A good example of Isaac van Ostade’s somewhat mannered ‘folksy’ technique: it is as if the artist has made a collage of mosses, barks and any other found object of picturesque surface and texture. David Wilkie painted his ‘Blind Fiddler’ (Tate) in 1806, just as this work was entering George IV collection; whether or not Wilkie was familiar with it he was certainly paying tribute to the type, especially in the way that he contrasts the wretched appearance of the player with the apparent beauty of the playing. Both images also suggest that music causes universal wonderment – amongst young innocents and beer-soaked adults alike. Inscribed lower left: 'Isack.van.Ostade / 1646'