Pieter De Hooch A Woman Preparing Bread And Butter For A Boy by Wayne Franits
We stay always at home because of the Coronavirus, we go to the town for some shopping every week or ten days; there are several activites that can be done at home and one of these ones is making some homemade bread, for passing the times, for remembering old times and maybe for re-starting a tradition pretty known by our grannies.
For this reason I downloaded this ebook; the perfect painting for this specific time.
In the scene there is a mother buttering bread for her young son, close to her; his behavior respectful and patient as you can see. The painting was realized by Pieter de Hooch probably between 1661-1663 and probably when in Delft.
The painting was discovered only in 1750.
What makes the difference with other painters is that Dutch ones in general present to the viewer richness and financial stability in their paintings.
There are many questions behind this painting, in general behind all paintings, but this one in particular is still resonating to us: a gesture, the one of making bread and other foods for the entire family that was part of the daily routine of a Dutch family. The Getty bought this painting in 1984.
The painter, De Hooch studied with Nicolaes Berchem specialized in painting landscapes.
De Hooch lived decades in Delft, where he worked also as a servant and painter.
De La Grange, the man he worked for, was an art collector. Pieter married on May 1654
Jannetje van der Burch. De Hooch painted his earliest works in the 1650s.
His first paintings had as protagonists soldiers. Slowly slowly Pieter changed people, portraying tranquil domestic life of women, children, pets, together in an harmonic beautiful vision of peace, tranquillity and discovery of domestic life. There are not other artists in grade of portraying domestic life in all its beauty, as dutch painters do.
Houses are big, in general they are houses of people of culture; someone interested in travelling, or learning something.
At the same time what characterize these paintings is the precious use of the light, the clarity of faces illuminated by light; sometimes we find darkness in a second person wearing black clothes and giving some obscurantism to the painting, although the principal character will always be in the light and will be the light of the painting as also the rest of the thematic scenography choosen by Pieter for the realization of these paintings.
At a certain point, as many other artists, Pieter De Hooch decides of leaving Delft for Amsterdam where genre painting dominated his production. De Hooch entered in contact and was influenced by the master of genre painting Vermeer. It's during the decades of 1660s that the production of De Hooch was the most fertile ones. The latest years of his existence were characterized by mental illness and other social problems he experienced on his way. His production followed a natural decadence.
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Dutch painters were in grade of portraying an healthy, adorable domesticity in Netherlands during the Golden Age. A girl singing a musical instrument, a lady busy in a daily-base activity in her sunny house, a joyful visit, a view of a beautiful dutch house, are elements of these painters, who, vividly entered de facto in the existences, houses of most dutch people reporting the best of their existences.
Children were represented in their daily activities as well. There was the theory that parents highly influenced the education of their children; they were helpful in activities, they were involved in study. In various cases children are represented close to books and candles. Candles was the electricity of that time but at the same time these candles are symbols: lights illuminating the minds of their children through culture.
The painting taken in consideration, A Woman Preparing Bread And Butter For A Boy is substantially a virtuous action of a lady and a mother.
The painting in itself is characterized largely by the presence of light. It is a sunny day, tiles of the house are absolutely stunning and diversified, giving richness to the various environment of the houses; there are many other various elements in the painting. We can see other buildings and some branches of a tree thanks to the fact that the door, has been left opened. There are in the entrance, in the left, some stairs. We can imagine that another kid, or the husband of this lady came in the house directed to the stairs and other environments. It's morning and a new day bring always some novelties and life is in motion.
This lady, differently is preparing bread and butter and she is assisted, or she requested the presence of this kid; I would want to add that maybe the son asked to see how she prepared bread and butter, as it happens often, won by his same curiosity.
He looks at what his mother is doing, disciplined. His mother is serious, attentive. She is a bit bored, while in the face of the son there is surprise and amazement, discovering this preparation.
Beautiful catalog. I highly suggest to all of you of downloading this book. It is completely free and as other very important institutions and publishing houses, Getty offers free ebooks for enjoying some moment of relaxation during this long lockdown.
Anna Maria Polidori
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