Resting Travelers

After 1670, Van Ostade mainly painted outdoor scenes, extolling unhurried, simple country life. The men drink beer and smoke their pipes. In the 17th century, Dutch people smoked so much that, according to foreign travellers, the smell of the Low Countries was the smell of tobacco. The most and best tobacco was cultivated in North and South America by people in slavery and shipped to the Netherlands for resale to other countries.