Coming back from oblivion

The employees of the Dnipropetrovsk-based Yavornytsky National Historical Museum rejoice at a sudden discovery. A small ancient painting restored by Kharkiv specialists turned out to be the work of the Dutch artist Isaac van Ostade, brother of the worldwide renowned master of the 17th century Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85). It is prestigious for any museum in the world to have a Dutch painting among its items; moreover, the works by Ostade brothers are on display at Europe’s leading galleries.

According to the head of the Dnipropetrovsk museum Nadia Kapustina, the picture has been preserved in reserves and the documents say that it used to belong to a devo-ted collector, famous Dnipropetrovsk architect Oleksandr Krasnoselsky, who traveled much over the world. After his death the collection was transferred to the museum, and the painting was considered a work of some unknown artist of the 18th century. But all over sudden the author’s signature was revealed during the restoration. Judging from the analysis of the manner of painting and the composition of the paints, the experts concluded that it is quite possible that the painting was indeed created by Isaac van Ostade, the younger brother and pupil of the famous Dutch artist. Isaac painted nearly 100 paintings, whose plots are very close to the oeuvre of his teacher. Practically none of his works are present in Ukrainian or Russian museums; therefore this is a unique finding. The painting has a conditional title, Rural Winter Landscape. It is executed in oils on a wooden base seized 30x40cm. The employees of the museum consider it the main task now to officially confirm the authenticity of the work. “The problem is that only experts can 100 percent confirm Ostade’s authorship, and there are hardly any experts like this in Ukraine,” Kapustina explained, “Therefore it will be possible to say whether the landscape was indeed painted in Holland in the 17th only after an additional examination. For this aim we have to send a request to Saint Petersburg experts and then bring the painting to its homeland. We need big money for this, and it is not simple to transport works of art.”

So far the residents of Dnipropetrovsk have an opportunity to feast their eyes on Rural Winter Landscape and other interesting items of the exhibit “Coming back from Oblivion.” It will be launched at the historical museum in October. The employees of the museum suppose that the reserves also have one more picture with a Dutch genealogy, A Portrait of a Man with a Glass, though no signature was revealed during the restoration. As a reminder, several years ago a picture of genius Rembrandt van Rijn was discovered in the funds of another Dnipropetrovsk museum, the Museum of Arts. This portrait of a girl with a pearl necklace still awaits the ultimate conclusion of Amsterdam experts.