Courtyard, Delft
Artist: Pieter de Hooch (Dutch, 1629-1684)
Date: about 1657
Dimensions:
H: 26 3/4 in. (68 cm); W: 22 5/8 in. (57.4 cm)
Medium: Oil on wood panel
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1949.27
Label Text:Like fellow Delft artist Johannes Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch specialized in quiet scenes of Dutch domestic life. De Hooch pioneered a category of images featuring the courtyards at the back of upper middle class houses. This painting is possibly the earliest example of this subject by De Hooch, and offers a glimpse into the private world of the Dutch home that visitors rarely saw.
A scene of maids drawing water from the well and doing the laundry probably would have suggested to the 17th-century Dutch viewer a well-run household with overtones of domestic and moral virtue. The child observing the maid—learning the value of honest work by example—also fit into the idea of an orderly, virtuous home.
The church spire in the background is that of the Oude Kerk (Old Church) in Delft.
A scene of maids drawing water from the well and doing the laundry probably would have suggested to the 17th-century Dutch viewer a well-run household with overtones of domestic and moral virtue. The child observing the maid—learning the value of honest work by example—also fit into the idea of an orderly, virtuous home.
The church spire in the background is that of the Oude Kerk (Old Church) in Delft.
On view
In Collection(s)