# The Fishwife [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [OSTADE, Adriaen Jansz. van]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 29 x 26,5 cm ## Commentary The ugly face of this fat woman convinces one that she has spent all her life as a fishwife. She is framed by the outline of the market-stall with its board for a counter. Against this background of silver-scaled fish she herself looks like some frog-eyed creature, colourfully dressed for market. The picture is small but the artist has filled in a background depicting the teeming life of the market. Every detail, the display of fish, the figure behind the stall, the small building and the general view in the background together make up an animated scene which is captivating despite a complete absence of dramatic episodes, tension or humour. Van Ostade was in the habit of painting several versions of a favourite motif, and a larger version, now in the Rijkmuseum in Amsterdam, bears the date 1672. The Budapest painting may have been produced at about the same time. ## Related artworks - [A Fight]() - [A Man With Pince-Nez \(The Sense of Sight\)]() - [Alchemist]() - [Barber Extracting of Tooth]() - [Brawl]() - [Carousing Peasants in a Tavern]() - [Comedian Reading in a Tavern]() - [Cutting the Feather]() - [Feasting Peasants in a Tavern]() - [Flute Player]() - [Inn Scene]() - [Interior of a Farmhouse with Skaters]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()