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Interior with a lady choosing fish
painting
Brekelenkam, Quiringh Gerritz van
Europe, Netherlands, Holland
1664
1979.449
oil paint on panel
49.8 x 39.4 cm
Interior with a Lady Choosing Fish 1664
Quirin van Brekelenkam around 1620 - 1668
Oil on panel
This painting shows the virtues of a good housewife.
Housewives' manuals of the day praised sewing
as a sign of an industrious life and a docile nature.
They also instructed her to shop wisely
with her husband's money.
The importance of her role as carer is reflected in the
painting which hangs in the background.
It shows a shepherdess looking after her flock.
The uncouth fishmonger is kept on the step.
He is part of the perilous world outside the home
of which she is largely ignorant
and over which she has no control.
Assheton Bennett bequest 1979.449
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