Family scene on the threshing floor

Interior of a barn; in the foreground loose boards, bundles of hay a basket; in the middle left a door (the upper part of this double-layered door is open and illuminates the scene in the centre of the picture: A seated farmer's wife in a white apron and white bonnet holds a sitting toddler with headscarf on her lap; to her left another standing toddler in skirt and hat with a stick in the left; to her right a wooden bench with pots and bowls; behind the mother with children, a brick wall with a leaning wooden door, above it a hayloft with another farmer's wife hanging the laundry; the brick wall is adjoined by remains of another wall of wooden boards, above it leans a farmer with a white hat, looking at the mother and pointing with his left hand at the toddler on her lap.

Explanation of the condition:

During the restoration of the picture in 1959, it was discovered that it was not a work by Ostade, but a fake: The varnish was removed in three places and it was noticed that almost no layer of paint was present and that the motif was probably photographed on the canvas.