Scullery Maid, 1789

About the Work

Carried out in the late eighteenth century, this pair of paintings testifies to the renewed appreciation for art of the Netherlands’ seventeenth-century Golden Age. They are not copies of older works but freely invented new ones in the style of Gerard (or Gerrit) Dou (1613–1675), a pupil of Rembrandt. An artist highly regarded for his fine and precise manner of painting, Dou had specialized in (among other genres) so-called “niche paintings”. With a keen sense of detail, Lauwers here executed two such “Netherlandish idylls” as companion pieces (“Scullery Boy” (Inv.-Nr. 970)).