Farmer's Wife with Baby in Cradle and Child

In an age of social revolutions elsewhere in Europe, artists in the stable and prosperous Netherlands emphasized the virtues of home and hearth. Here, a peasant mother reaches for her infant as the older child looks on. Signs of nascent wealth are scattered throughout as the blue-tiled fireplace, the fancy wicker cradle, and embroidered fabrics and lace were beyond the reach of the humblest families.

Trained at the Rotterdam art academy, Weiland taught there from the age of 23. A specialist in figural scenes and scenes of daily life, he became a member of artists' associations in Rotterdam and the Hague. He moved to the latter city in 1900, while keeping an active exhibition schedule in major Dutch cities.