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Nicolaes Maes, 'A Woman scraping Parsnips, with a Child standing by her', 1655

About the work

At first glance, this dark room might seem bare and forbidding but the deep brown of the walls encloses the two figures in warmth and serenity. There’s just enough light to reveal them, but Maes doesn‘t show the window, so the comfortable atmosphere isn’t disturbed. The concentration of woman and child, their gaze directed intently downwards, takes our own eyes to the woman’s hands. She holds a parsnip delicately, scraping it away from her so that the peel lands in the dish in her lap. And we, like the little girl, learn how it should be done.

At this time, Calvinist preachers recommended that ‘the devil should be beaten out of a child’, but genre pictures of this kind showed a gentler attitude towards their education. The painting wasn't necessarily hung on a wall as a lesson in child-rearing, but it would have been seen at least as a picture of domestic calm to be held as a desired end.

Key facts

Full title
A Woman scraping Parsnips, with a Child standing by her
Artist
Nicolaes Maes
Artist dates
1634 - 1693
Date made
1655
Medium and support
oil on wood
Dimensions
35.6 × 29.8 cm
Inscription summary
Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit
Bequeathed by Lord Farnborough, 1838
Inventory number
NG159
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Previous owners

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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A Little Girl rocking a Cradle
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A little girl looks out at us, as if eager for us to tell her that she’s doing her job well – her smile a little nervous, the hand on the cradle clutching it tight. She looks no more than five years old, but she’s been given the responsibility of looking after the baby that sleeps soundly, button...
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Christ blessing the Children
Christ blessing the Children
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Nicolaes Maes has turned a biblical moment into a scene from his own time, illustrating part of the Gospel of Matthew (19.13–14): ‘Then there were brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little childr...
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Portrait of a Man in a Black Wig
Portrait of a Man in a Black Wig
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Late in his career, Nicolaes Maes painted several small portraits in this style, often in an oval format. The background is dark, with a brown brocade curtain pushed to one side behind the sitter. A stylish young man confronts us with a direct gaze and half smile.We don’t know who this young man...
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Portrait of an Elderly Man in a Black Robe
Portrait of an Elderly Man in a Black Robe
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A warm light cast from the left illuminates a dark red curtain raised behind the sitter. This light seems to soften the man’s stern expression and the stark white of his stiff collar and cuffs.The old man in Nicolaes Maes’s portrait hasn’t been identified, even though he appears to be a man of so...
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Portrait of Jan de Reus
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Jan de Reus is about 70 years old in this portrait. He looks out from a dark background, his lined face framed by the long curls of a full-bottomed wig. Each wrinkle is rendered with meticulous care. His mouth is sensitive, though the lips are perhaps not as clearly defined as they once would hav...
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The Idle Servant
The Idle Servant
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Although the title of this picture is Interior with a Sleeping Maid and her Mistress it has become known as The Idle Servant. The young woman is slumped on a stool, head in hand, taking a snooze after the hard work involved in preparing a large meal; heavy pots and pans litter the floor. But the...
Room 17