Woman Spinning

Nys, Pieter1652

Details

Title: Woman Spinning
Creator Lifespan: 1624 - 1681
Date: 1652
Physical Dimensions: w606 x h590 cm
Type: Painting
Medium: Oil
Work Nationality: Dutch
Support: Canvas
Provenance: London, Sir Francis Bourgeois, 1811; Bourgeois Bequest, 1811.
Inscriptions: Signed and dated, verso, on stretcher: 'P. NYS Fecit/ 1652'
Further Information: This painting is signed and dated on the stretcher at the back: P. NYS Fecit/ 1652. Recent cleaning has revealed a very finely-painted genre scene by an artist who travelled widely - he lost all his drawings in the Great Fire of London in 1666 - but whose paintings are extremely rare. The relative untidiness of the scene might suggest a certain moral disapproval - the foot warmer is worn through, embers smoulder on the floor, the child appears to be tearing pages from a book and mussel shells litter the floor. The cleaning has removed a (modern) discarded shoe in the left corner, and uncovered an original hobby-horse, symbol of childish folly, beneath. On the other hand, the old woman is spinning - often a symbol of industry. To 17th-century Dutch eyes, ever alert to a finely-balanced moral, this woman's industry might be at the expense of the child's proper education.
Artist: Nys, Pieter
Acquisition Method: Bourgeois, Sir Peter Francis (Bequest, 1811)

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