''A Mother's Duty'' (1658–1660) is an

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

-on-canvas painting by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

painter

Pieter de Hooch Pieter de Hooch (, also spelled "Hoogh" or "Hooghe"; 20 December 1629 (baptized) – 24 March 1684 (buried)) was a Dutch Golden Age painter famous for his genre works of quiet domestic scenes with an open doorway. He was a contemporary of ...

. It is part of the collection of the

Amsterdam Museum The Amsterdam Museum, known until 2010 as the Amsterdam Historical Museum, is an Amsterdam-based museum dedicated to the city's past and present. Due to the renovation of its main location, the museum is temporarily located in the building the Amst ...

, on loan to the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

Description

This painting by Hooch showing a woman delousing a child's hair was documented by

Hofstede de Groot Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (9 November 1863 – 14 April 1930), was a Dutch art collector, art historian and museum curator. Life He was born in Dwingeloo and spent some time in Switzerland in his youth due to weak lungs, where he learned Germa ...

in 1910, who wrote:

71. MOTHER COMBING HER CHILD'S HAIR.
Sm. __NOTOC__ Sir James Edward Smith (2 December 1759 – 17 March 1828) was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society. Early life and education Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a ...
33, 4, 67; de G. 5. In a homely bedroom sits a woman in profile to the right. She wears a red blouse and blue skirt, and is de-lousing her daughter's hair who kneels before her with her head in her lap. Behind her is an elevated, recessed bed with curtains; a child's
chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
stands in the right foreground. The door on the left, near which is a little dog, opens into a second room, through the door of which is seen a garden with slender trees. This is one of the finest pictures by De Hooch in Holland. ompare 74.Signed on the chair "Pr d' hooch"; canvas on panel, 21 inches by 24 inches. Wrongly attributed to E. Boursse in the 1887 catalogue of the Rijksmuseum ; the signature is absolutely genuine, and is wrongly described as doubtful in the 1905 catalogue. * Gerard Braamcamp, Amsterdam, July 31, 1771, No. 88 (610 florins, Van der Dussen), (compare also Hoet, ii. 504). * J. L. van der Dussen, in Amsterdam, October 31, 1774, No. 7 (750 florins). * J. J. de J. J. de Faesch, in Amsterdam, July 3, 1833, No. 20 (3500 florins plus 7 1/2 per cent, bought in; or 2590 florins, Jansen for Moget). * Amsterdam, April 24, 1838, No. 18 (3311 florins, Brondgeest). Formerly in the Van der Hoop collection, Amsterdam. * Now in the Rijksmuseum at Amsterdam, Van der Hoop bequest; No. 1250 in the 1905 catalogue (formerly No. 685).entry 71 for Mother Combing her Child's Hair
in Hofstede de Groot, 1908

Gallery

This painting seems to have been a successful design for De Hooch as there are several variations on the subject of this bedroom and its doorway outside: File:Pieter de Hooch - The Bedroom - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Bedroom'' (Widener Collection) File:Pieter de Hooch - The Bedroom - WGA11695.jpg, ''The Bedroom'' (Karlsruhe) File:Pieter de Hooch - The Golf Players - c.1658.jpg, ''

The Golf Players ''The Golf Players'' (1658) is an oil-on-panel painting by the Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch. It is an example of Dutch Golden Age painting and is part of the collection of Polesden Lacey. The painting was documented by Hofstede de Groot in 1910, ...

References

External links

Interieur met vrouw die een kind luist, ca. 1658-1660
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

1650s paintings Paintings in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Paintings by Pieter de Hooch Amsterdam Museum Dogs in art {{17C-painting-stub