Young Woman Feeding a Parrot

This exquisite panel shows Leiden fine painter Frans van Mieris’s marvelous ability to render a range of textures, particularly the shimmering satin, velvet, and fur of the woman’s expensive clothes. Taking a break from her needlework, the young woman feeds a gray parrot sitting on a fine wooden stand. This bird was an exotic house pet for the upper-class Dutch in the seventeenth century, but it also carried symbolic associations. The parrot was celebrated for its eloquence and eagerness to learn because it can be tamed and taught to mimic speech.

To learn more about this painting click on the link below.