Barber Extracting a Tooth

Barber Extracting a Tooth is an oil-on-panel genre painting by Adriaen van Ostade, dated from c. 1630–1635. It is held in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, in Vienna.

Description

The painting depicts a genre scene in a humble barbershop, where the vaillage barber surgeon extracts a villager’s tooth under the gaze of several figures, some of whose faces appear slightly blurred. A shaft of light from the window illuminates the left side of the scene, a characteristic technique of the artist, while the right side remains in partial shadow. On the wall, a series of scissors alludes to the barbershop’s function. As was often the case, the painter favored popular themes, which he approached with great realism.