Girl Chopping Onions (1646)
by Gerrit Dou (1613-1675)
Netherlands Baroque painter & draftsman
Student of Rembrandt
Beautiful picture, but something is definitely wrong.
Girl Chopping Onions (1646)
by Gerrit Dou (1613-1675)
Netherlands Baroque painter & draftsman
Student of Rembrandt
Beautiful picture, but something is definitely wrong.
She’s not wearing her onion goggles!
What? She’s not crying?
That’s what I was thinking too!
The little boy looks like he is going to eat an onion?
The chicken doesn’t belong?
the lighting seems off
Seems to me like there ought to be a huge pile of onion skins somewhere if she’s cut up that many onions. Did they have special onion choppers back then?
The girl appears very somber, but I would as well if my task was to chop so many onions. However, it is most queer that the stein or pitcher is overturned in the forefront of the picture.
It could be that she is giving “the look” at the painter which translates “Hey, can you put the paintbrush down and help me?”
Well! That was an interesting search & discovery! This is a very innocent looking painting–a slice of life, if you will–but it had strong sexual meaning to the people of the time in which it was painted. As an aside, The green in the painting is supposed to be blue, which I find much more attractive. There are color-corrected photos on the web.
Other than the fact that the painting appears innocent to modern eyes but isn’t, what I find wrong with the painting is that anyone could stand over that much chopped onion & not be in tears!
Yes, I just found out about the meaning behind the painting. Never knew that before last week.
The girl doesn’t look like she is normal kitchen help. She doesn’t have on work clothes, she doesn’t look like she’s in the kitchen.