Woman's Art Inc.
Geertruydt Roghman and the Female Perspective in 17th-Century Dutch Genre Imagery
Author(s): Martha Moffitt Peacock
Source: Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Autumn, 1993 - Winter, 1994), pp. 3-10
Published by: Woman's Art Inc.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1358443
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decades, there has been
much discussion con- J
cerning interpretation and
meaning in 17th-century Dutch
genre imagery. Although various O
methodologies have been employed
to search out the manner
in which contemporary audiences
viewed these images, only and the Femal
slight attention has been paid to
how gender-related considera- 17th-Ce
tions might enlighten this discus- 7th en
sion.' Although there are few
extant written accounts on the Genre
viewing of Dutch genre imagery
by men or women in the 17th
century, there are visual By Martha I
accounts of how artists viewed
and interpreted conventional
subjects. Through an examination of viewership and artistic
convention and invention in a unique series of five prints
designed and engraved by Geertruydt Roghman, it becomes
clear that gender played an extremely important role in both
the interpretation and creation of genre images.
Although not much information is available regarding
Geertruydt Roghman's life and work in particular, recently discovered
documents provide information concerning her
family.2 Geertruydt (Giertje) Roghman was baptized in the
Amsterdam Nieuwe Kerk on October 19, 1625. Her father,
Hendrik Lambertszn Roghman,
an engraver, was an apprentice
to artist Harmen Janszn Muller.
Although Hendrik's father was
not an artist, other members of
his family are identified in
archival records as engravers.
Furthermore, Geertruydt's
mother, Maritje Saverij, was a
member of the Saverij family of
artists from Courtrai in the
southern Netherlands. The
Saverij family immigrated north
at the end of the 16th century,
and Jaques Saverij (Maritje's
father) moved to Haarlem,
where he was a practicing artist
and guild member. Roelant
Saverij, Jaques's brother and the
most famous artist of the family,
achieved an international reputation
as painter to Emperor
Rudolph II. Thus, Geertruydt
must have been greatly influenced
to become an artist by the
strong artistic heritage on both
sides of her family.
Geertruydt was the oldest of
six children; her brother
Roelant (1627-92) and her sister .,. , Magdalena
(1637-after 1669)' , t-; r
were also artists. The three Fig. 1. Geertruydt Roghlnn,
children and their father 21.3 cm. x 17.1 cm. Rijks
r
E
le
tu
Ii
MAo
Tw4
pre
formed a family workshop in
UT Y T D 7 W/'TT^^T Amsterdam in which there was a
certain amount of collaboration.
Although only a few prints by
Magdalena are extant, there are
r1 v / A |\| numerous paintings, prints,
[ A JV. El a ,drawings by Roelant. Like
great-uncle and namesake,
Roelant was also quite famous.
Perspective in According to the 18th-cent
speclve i biographer Arnold Houbrake
ry Dutch Roelant was a good friend
lry DlCuth Rembrandt.3 Geertruydt
Roelant seem to have had a close
magery working relationship, as she
made engravings after a number
of his landscape drawings.
Ffitt Peacock The only dated work by
Geertruydt is an engraving of
her great-uncle Roelant Saverij,
after a painting by Paulus Moreelse. Dated 1647, it is her earliest
known work and is much like her father's engraved portraits.4
As in his works, a eulogy accompanies Geertruydt's portrait.
The directing influence of her father is also evidenced by
his signature after the verse praising their relative. In addition
to these indicators of her early development, the work also displays
some of the compositional awkwardness common to
young artists, although the textures and details are handled
quite well.
Another work that may date to Geertruydt's early years is an
.-..- engraved copy in reverse of
Aegidius Sadeler's print after
..-=m Tintoretto's Massacre of the
Innocents.' At this point she is
still copying the work of more
famous artists, and, as in the
previous print, she includes an
;_ . ......inscription, which here repeats
the relevant biblical verses.
Perhaps the next works of
Geertruydt's short career are a
series of 14 landscape prints
done after drawings by her
brother." Recent scholarship
dates this series, Plaisante
lantschappen ofte vernlakelijcke
gesichten na t' leven, to between
1645 and 1648, when both
Geertruydt and Roelant were
about 20 years old.- The title
plate, generally attributed to
Claes Jansz. Visscher, informs
!! us that the images were drawn
by Roelant and printed by
Visscher, but no etcher is indicated.'
Fortunately, the initials
G. R. are inscribed on four of
the prints, indicating
i; Geertruydt's participation in th
series. Attribution of the print
to Geertruydt is complicated,
o Women Sewing, engraving, however, by the presence of the
ntenkabinet, Amsterdam. initials R. R. on five others.
WOMAN'S ART JOURNAL FALL 1993/WINTER 1994
I
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- ._. 2
Fig.
ing,
Ordi
er-e
this
that
is qu
kno
thes
imp
G. R
initi
the
attr
Roghman."'
The previous conclusion is supported by the existence of
another landscape etching, a castle view, 'T Huys te Zuylen,
whose inscriptions inform us that Geertruydt etched the plate
after Roelant's design." It is likely that this is Geertruydt's
final work, because it is her only print not published by Claes
Jansz. Visscher, who died in 1652.'2 Instead, it is published by
his son Nicolaus Visscher. The suggestion has been made that
a series of castle views, similar to the above-mentioned landscape
series, may have been planned.13 Certainly there are
many castle drawings by Roelant that could have served as
models for his sister to etch.
It is possible that such a series was never completed because
of Geertruydt's death. She never married, and the last archival
evidence of her dates from March 1651; it is certain that she
was no longer living by December 1657.'1 Of her extant prints,
it appears that only one work can be assigned a date of 1652 or
later. Thus, Geertruydt may have died as early as 1653, at the
age of 27 or 28.
Fig. 3. Geertruydt Rojlhnu.i, Pancake Baker, engraving,
21.3 cm. x 17.1 cm. Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam.
A series of five prints depicting female occupations, published
by Claes Jansz. Visscher, probably postdates Geertruydt's
earliest engravings because the prints are both designed and
engraved by her. In creating this series, she was influenced by
specific and well-known conventions in contemporary painting.15
Two Women Sewing (Fig. 1), VWoman with Vanitas
Objects (Fig. 2), Pancake Baker (Fig. 3), WVoman Spinning and
a Child (Fig. 4), and Woman Scouring Metalware (Fig. 5)
depict some of the subjects that enjoyed the greatest popularity
in 17th-century Dutch genre painting. Although she had obviously
witnessed these conventions in numerous genre paintings
sold at the open market, her interpretations are vastly different
from those of her male contemporaries.
The first image in the series depicts two women sewing
(Fig. 1). This task was commonly represented in genre paintings
and genrelike portraiture of the period to designate the
virtue of the women portrayed. An obvious reference to this
virtuous female undertaking is found in a mid-17th-century
image, Mistress Supervising Her Household (Fig. 6), attributed
to Egbert van Heemskerck. The mother sits regally in the center
of the composition. She has momentarily interrupted her
commendable task of sewing to guide the viewer's attention to
her four daughters at the left. The daughters all exhibit womanly
virtues and the two eldest look to their mother as if for
guidance and approval. To the mother's right is a maidservant,
whose more rigorous chore of ironing indicates her lower status.
This image of perfect order and harmony corresponds
directly with illustrations for moralizing treatises instructing
women on housewifely duties. It has many elements in common
with the illustrations for chapters entitled "Vrotuwe" (wife)
and "Moeder" (mother) in Jacob Cats's popular 1632 house-
0
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AT? s -=
. . ..........
Fig. 4. Geertruydt Roglinon, Woman Spinning and a Child,
engraving, 21.3 cm. x 17.1 cm. Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam.
hold text Houwelijck (Marriage). These illustrations also
depict women in the midst of their households, governing all
that transpires. As in Heemskerck's painting, many genre
images include sewing implements to demonstrate the virtue
of their female subjects and differentiate them from their servants,
who do more physical menial work.'6
Unlike many portrayals of this subject, Roghman's scene
shows women actually sewing. The left figure intently bends
over her task while resting her feet on a warming stove. The
right figure looks up, yet still pulls the thread through the
material with her thimbled finger and thumb. These women
are dressed plainly and are placed in simple surroundings; no
class designation is indicated. Furthermore, the setting has
been left bare to emphasize the women and their labor. Only
the relevant still-life elements of a basket of cloth, spool, scissors,
and a poker to stir the coals under the warming stove are
included in the foreground. There are no anecdotal or moralizing
gestures. Thus, while Roghman is certainly aware of the
traditional theme, she alters it to emphasize the figures of the
women themselves, caught unawares by the viewer.
The second image of the series continues the vanitas tradition
of depicting the worldly behavior of women (Fig. 2). Jan
Miense Molenaer's Lady World (1633; Fig. 7) is perhaps the
best known of these images, but it closely resembles a number
of works that portray women vainly admiring themselves in
mirrors. In Molenaer's painting the woman is surrounded by
objects variously symbolizing worldliness (the map, jewels, and
musical instruments), foolishness (the ape), and the brevity of
life (the child blowing bubbles, flowers, and skull).'7
Roghman's image differs radically from this type of vanitas
image; in fact, it is difficult to ascertain precisely the activity of
Fig. 5. Geertruydt Roglhnn, Woman Scour
ing, 21.3 cm. x 17.1 cm. Rijksprentenkab
the figure. Most authors simply iden
others as ruffling, pleating, or making
Jongh pairs it with Roghman's spinning
both as exemplars of virtue, even thoug
ly identify the task. Dutuit, more accur
woman is examining a piece of cloth.l"
any fabric store, the woman closely eye
she runs it through her hands.
How, then, was such an activity to be
rary context? In treatises on virtuous
warned against wasting money on fan
Roghman's image, therefore, is an e
virtue, as are most vanitas images. It in
warnings as in Molenaer's painting, but
spective. Roghman still includes the sku
of the brevity of life, and books repres
but she has replaced many of the other
more naturalistic objects. Molenaer's u
and jewelry is here greatly simplified;
and absorption with the cloth are th
worldliness greater than that found in R
Certainly the comparison with Molenae
ence between a woman's opinion of s
more prevalent male view. For age
women's enticing beauty to be their m
aspect, thus a sure representation of vi
gazing at herself in a mirror. Another
vain mirror-gazer, for example, is used
in Roemer Visscher's emblem book,
More consonant with the female exp
Roghman's depiction of a woman involv
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_ .4- """ - "". & s
Fig. 6. Egbert van Heemskerck (attributed to), Mistress
Supervising Her Household, oil on canvas, 150 cm. x
141 cm. Location Unknown. Photo: Rijksbureau voor
Kunsthistorisches Docunlentatie, The Hague.
iar to women and a vice to which women often fall prey.
The third image in Geertruydt Roghman's series is perhaps
the most surprising (Fig. 3). In a full back view a woman is
pictured among a variety of utensils, presumably cooking
before a fire. The large figure obscures the actual task, and it
is only by carefully examining the surrounding still-life elements
that one can identify her activity as pancake baking.
Situated to her right are a large dish and scoop used for the
batter; beyond them one catches a partial view of the frying
pan for cooking the pancakes. To her left lies a convex-bottom
pancake dish with one round pancake in it.
The theme of pancake baking has a long history and, due to
the Lenten prohibition against eating pancakes, it was associated
with evil.2' Depictions of evil old
pancake bakers first appeared in the
16th century, where the task was
sometimes performed by witches.22 '
This tradition continued into the 17th
century, as can be seen in a Pancake X
Baker (Fig. 8) by Pieter de Bloot
(1601-58). The children greedily i '
devour their pancakes while laughing
at the grimacing old pancake vendor.
The woman's evil nature is emphasized
by her caricature and by the painting's
pendant of a quack doctor-the epitomizing
image of evil and deceit during
the 17th century.
In contrast, Roghman's scene contains
none of these moralizing indications.
We cannot even discern the
woman's age. Again, anecdote and
metaphor have been eliminated to concentrate
on the woman at her task. - - ..__...
Since this obscured view does not
demonstrate how to make pancakes, Fig. 8. Pieter de Bloot, P
the print would not have been 35.5 c. x 31 c Lo
designed to illustrate a household man- Doumentaodesigned to illustrate a household man- Documentat
Fig. 7. Jan Miense Molenaer, Lady World (1633), oil on canvas,
102 cm. x 127 cm. Toledo Museum of Art.
'ane
:ati
)r K
ie,
ual. Furthermore, considering the painting convention from
wThich it stemmed, it would not have been viewed as an image
of virtue. Roghman seems to have intended that it represent
neither virtue nor vice but that it indicate more closely a
woman's actual experience.
Roghman's image of a woman spinning has been the most
frequently discussed scene of the series (Fig. 4). Most scholars
regard it as a moralizing lesson on virtue, and it has been suggested
that the series in its entirety may have illustrated one of
Jacob Cats's instructive texts.": It is comfortable to discuss this
image as an exemplar of the virtuous female, because spinning
women, from Lucretia to the Virgin Mary, had long had that
connotation. Moreover, many 17th-century Dutch treatises list
spinning as one of the virtuous duties of
women.24
Indeed, the spinner was among the
most popular images illustrating virtue
in 17th-century Dutch genre painting.)"
Many of these images merely depict a
woman seated near a spinning wheel
rather than actually spinning. The virtuous
nature of the wheel, however, still
reflects on the woman herself.
Particularly overt are images like
Quiringh van Brekelenkam's Old
Wonman with Reading Boy (1665; Fig. 9),
a depiction of an old spinner who virtuously
directs the Bible-reading lessons
of a young boy. The scene evokes the
hushed reverence usually reserved for
religious works.
In contrast, Roghman's spinner does
not evoke these obviously moralizing
intentions. Again, the back view of this
woman actually engaged in spinning
ake Baker, oil on panel, almost obscures her task. Wle glimpse
,on unknown. Photo: only a portion of the wheel and staff
The Hague. with its wool. The skeins, winder, pick,
0
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Fig. 9. Quiringh van Brekelenkam, Old Woman with Reading Boy
(1665), oil on panel, 52.1 cm. x 72.5 cm. Location Unknown.
Photo: Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorisches Documentatie, The Hague.
and spools rest on the floor to her left. It has been suggested
that the scene emphasizes the communication and relationship
between the mother and child, but the two do not really interact.2-
The mother is absorbed in her work and the very serious,
almost adult-looking child stares intently at the viewer. Neither
impishly mischievous nor sweetly dutiful, like the children in
most genre scenes, this is one of the least stereotypical depictions
of a child in 17th-century Dutch art. Roghman's spinner
and child avoid the sentimentality found in the work of many
of her male contemporaries. She neither poses them in a contrived
manner nor includes details to emphasize moralizing
characteristics.
The last image of the series is perhaps the most telling in
regard to the artist's intent (Fig. 5). Images of women scouring
kitchen equipment generally contained sexual anecdote and
erotic metaphor. The most blatant of these types of images
were those that acted out the sexual
innuendo in a playlike fashion, as in
The Kitchenmaid (1655; Fig. 10) by
Jan van Hoeven. The young woman
scrubs a metal plate and is surrounded
by vessels with rounded openings
that face the viewer. Open-mouthed
vessels were commonly used as
metaphors for the female sexual ^e^
organs.27 The young girl, apparently a
maid, looks up at her lecherous old
master who embraces her and directs
her face toward his. An older
woman, probably his wife, angrily
observes them through the doorway.
Even without such dramatics, images
depicting this theme usually are filled
with sexual symbols, for example, Jan
Steen's VWoman Scouring Metalware r
(c. 1654-58; Fig. 11), where a voluptuous
young maid laughingly greets
the viewer's gaze. Behind her is the
frequently included and sexually symbolic
spout that is directed toward
the open-mouthed pot below-obvi- (1654-58), oil on pa
ously indicating the type of bawdy Rijksmuseun
)ma
nel
n, A
Fig. 10. Jan van Hoeven, The Kitchenmaid (1655), oil on canvas,
51.4 cm. x 71.7 cm. Location Unknown. Photo: Rijksbureau voor
Kunsthistorisches Documentatie, The Hague.
joke that Steen so enjoyed.2'
In contrast to this tradition, Roghman's kitchenmaid is
decidedly nonsexual. Again, the woman is shown from the
back: she does not invite the viewer with her gaze, smile, or
decolletage. Completely unaware of the viewer, she vigorously
scrubs a metal plate. Judging from the objects that surround
her, her work has indeed been burdensome. In this case, however,
the objects seem to suggest only that, nothing more. One
could read sexual innuendo into the rounded openings of vessels
if there were other traditional sexual metaphors such as the
phallic spout, or if there were something in the woman's
demeanor to suggest licentiousness. Nothing of that tone is evident
in the scene. Roghman's modification of this convention
is less anecdotal and less contrived than other representations
of the theme.
Unlike many of her male contemporaries, Roghman did not
intend her images to be either moralizing
or erotic. Important to this conclusion
is the fact that the prints were
meant to be viewed as a series. They
were numbered consecutively and
published twice (the second publication
was completed by I. Covens and
C. Mortier). Moreover, they are related
to one another in composition, setting,
and detail. The only moralizing
image of the series is the vanitas
scene. It is, however, neither the first
nor the last in the series, and thus
does not dictate the meaning of the
other images. Like the other scenes,
it belongs to its own painting convention,
which is separate and distinct
from the other conventions.
Furthermore, it is not an imag
virtue and certainly does not de
mine that the other scenes should be
read as such. This suggestion
becomes untenable when the other
scenes are placed in their convention-
1, 24.5 cm. x 20 cm. al contexts. Could the scouring maid
kmsterdam. suddenly be seen as virtuous to an
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audience who had traditionally associated the subject with lust?
Most likely not.
Instead of a moral or a titillating glance, Geertruydt
Roghman provides us with a unique glimpse into a 17th-century
woman's world. Nothing extraneous is included in these
scenes; the artist concentrates exclusively on the monumental
women, their work, and the tools specific to it. Furthermore,
the positions in which she chose to portray the women-close
up and often from the back-are highly unusual and create an
unposed slice-of-life effect in which the figures are completely
unaware of their observers. They seem to more closely approximate
real life than those of many of her contemporaries, and
as such have been appropriated by 20th-century scholars as
illustrations of women's roles in 17th-century Holland.29 In
addition, the naturalness of the poses has led some to suggest
that the images may be portraits of particular women or that
they portray tasks performed by the artist herself.30 There is,
however, nothing portraitlike about the figures and, although
they may have been familiar tasks to Roghman, they were
influenced first by contemporary painting conventions.
Such an altering of popular artistic themes also sheds light
on the viewing of Dutch genre images generally. As art historians
discuss the viewing and interpretation of these images, they
rarely discriminate between male and female viewers. It is
obvious, however, that Roghman did not see these conventions
in the same way as her male contemporaries, and it is likely
that this was also the case with other females. After examining
the manner in which Roghman changed these conventions, it
appears that she saw such images as depictions of a female
domain where women and their work were important. Some
scholars discuss these genre images only as lessons in virtue
and see them as parallel to the moralizing literature of the
day.31 The scenes are obviously much more complex:
Although some men might have seen these images as ways to
instruct women in their duties or to view women erotically,
women perhaps saw them as reflecting a new interest in themselves.
Surely in the history of art there had never been such an
outpouring of images dealing with contemporary women in
everyday settings. Although today we may view this Dutch
emphasis on housewives as traditional, for 17th-century women
it was an affirmation of their importance in the society at large.
Indeed, some moralists, in discussing the household, describe
the heerschappij or dominion of women, which, although hardly
equal to that of men, was certainly powerful.32
Ironically, the enhanced power of women in 17th-century
Dutch society was due in large part to the emphasis placed on
the home and on the mother as caretaker of this realm.
Contemporary moralists encouraged women to carefully watch
over the household, children, and servants, as well as to oversee
the domestic expenses. Indeed, husbands were instructed
not to exclude their wives from the ruling of the household,
and wastefulness on the part of the husband was to be avoided
by entrusting the wife with managing incoming and outgoing
money.33 The governance of the home, where virtues such as
obedience and industry were taught, was seen as parallel to
that of society at large.34 Therefore, the authority delegated to
mothers was great and the image of the woman in the home
carried with it connotations of power.
Several historians point to the important role played by
Dutch women in trade and business as another indication of
their power.35 While many husbands were at sea, their wives
often assisted and even took over businesses. Women's legal
right to make commercial contracts enabled them to transact
business. Furthermore, when a husband's bad judgment in
business matters threatened to bring the family to ruin, hi
wife could appeal to the law.3
Research also indicates that women in the 17th-century
Dutch Republic enjoyed a certain amount of independence
Compared with England, for example, there were many more
households headed by single females.37 In addition, unlike in
England, Dutch women could inherit property and even own
property while their husbands were alive.38 Contemporary letters
and journals of travelers to the Netherlands support this
research.39 Such documents frequently commented on the
power of Dutch housewives and expressed shock and dismay at
the freedoms enjoyed by Dutch women.
With this historical insight, one can more readily understand
the appearance of a large number of misogynist images and
treatises ridiculing powerful and overbearing women in the
Netherlands. In their censuring of female power, they suggest
that many Dutch men were threatened by the women and their
usurpation of traditional male roles.40 Although many less overtly
misogynist images of women in the home obviously had the
same intent-to instruct women and keep them in their placetheir
effect may have been the opposite. Such images greatly
increased women's visibility and importance and underscored
the necessity for capable, independent, and well-educated
women in this Protestant, middle-class society. As is evidenced
by a careful examination of Geertruydt Roghman's print series,
a woman's perspective of these genre conventions certainly
emphasized the value of these female roles. The series, therefore,
is significant for its unique artistic contribution, but it is
also indispensable for achieving a more complete understanding
of viewership and gender in the 17th century. ?
NOTES
Research for this article was made possible t
Women's Research Institute and the College of
cations, Brigham Young University. A versi
College Art Association meetings in Chicago, 1
1. For the historiography of and further d
Linda Stone-Ferrier, Dutch Prints of Daily Lif
of Morals (Lawrence, Kans.: Spencer Museum
Sutton, ed., Masters of Seventeenth-Centu
(Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1
and Jan de Vries, eds., Art in History/Hi
Seventeenth-Century Dutch Culture (Santa M
1991). One of the few articles to deal with the
imagery and gender is Frima Fox Hofric
Proposition-Between Virtue and Vice," in N
Garrard, eds., Feminism and Art History: Que
York: Harper and Row, 1982), 173-81.
2. The various documents on the Roghman a
located in the archives of Amsterdam, Utrecht
A. C. Dudok van Heel and Marten Jan Bok.
teeltekeningen van Roelant Roghman, II (Cana
1990).
3. Arnold Houbraken, De Groote schouburg der nederlantsche Konstschilders
en schilderessen..., III (Amsterdam, 1721), 358.
4. F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and
Woodcuts, XX (Amsterdam: Hertzberger, 1949), 61-64.
5. Ibid., no. 1.
6. Ibid., nos. 9-22.
7. Kloek, Roelant Roghman, 24.
8. Kloek, Roelant Roghman, 25; Maria Simon, "Claes Jansz. Visscher"
(dissertation, Albert-Ludwig-Universitat, Freiburg, 1958), 113.
0
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9. Kloek, Roelant Roghman, 25.
10. Kloek, Roelant Roghman, 24-25; Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish
Etchings, 57-59.
11. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, no. 8.
12. Kloek, Roelant Roghman, 17.
13. Ibid., 17, 130.
14. Ibid., 8.
15. Clifford S. Ackley first noted the rarity of domestic subjects in the
print medium in Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt (Boston: Museum
of Fine Arts, 1981), 166.
16. These elements can be found in several genre scenes. In A Mother
Sewing, with a Child (c. 1668) by Pieter de Hooch in the ThyssenBornemisza
Collection, Lugano-Castagnola, for example, a woman has
momentarily laid aside her sewing to gaze maternally at her young daughter.
Mother and child are finely dressed in satins and fur. Another very
sentimental sewer is placed amidst her two children in the genrelike portrait
Woman Sewing and Two Children by Wallerant Vaillant (1623-77) in
the Amalienstift, Dessau. Again, mother and children wear costly clothing
and are placed in a grand setting. The postures and composition of the
three figures emphasize the virtue of this mother in fulfilling her domestic
responsibilities. Another type of sewer is frequently depicted in Dutch art
as an excuse to introduce erotic innuendo and sexual humor. For example,
a licentious old man fondles a sleeping young sewer in Nocturnal
Scene with Sleeping Woman by Adriaen van der Werff (1659-1722) in the
Historisch Museum, Rotterdam.
17. Molenaer was married to painter Judith Leyster. The symbolism of
this painting is discussed in Eddy de Jongh, et al., Tot Lering en Vermaak
(Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 1976), 176-79; and Sutton, Masters, 262-63.
18. The task is identified as sewing or mending in Georg Kaspar Nagler,
Neues allgemeines Kunstler Lexikon, XV (Leipzig: Schwarzenburg and
Schumann, 1835-52), 75; Alfred von Wurzbach, Niederlandisches
Kunstler-Lexikon, II (Amsterdam: B. M. Israel, 1963), 463; Jan Frederik
van Someren, Beschrijvende Catalogus van Gegraveerde Portretten van
Nederlanders, III (Amsterdam: Frederik Muller, 1891), 529; and Abraham
van Stolk, Atlas van Stolk: Katalogus der Historie-, Spot- en
Zinneprenten Betrekkelijk de Geschiedenis van Nederland, I (Amsterdam:
Frederik Muller, 1895), 348. It is designated as pleating or ruffling in
Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, 55; Stone-Ferrier, Dutch Prints,
59, and Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society (London: Thames
and Hudson, 1990), 115. The girl is identified as making a fabric book
cover in "Dames gaan voor": De Vrouw in de prentkunst 1500-1800
(Rotterdam: Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, 1975), 29. According to
Ackley, Printmaking, 166, the woman is reading a letter. She is considered
an exemplar of virtue in Eddy de Jongh, Portretten van echt en
trouw: Huwelijk en gezin in de Nederlandse kunst van de zeventiende
eeuw (Zwolle: Waanders, 1986), 29, and as a girl examining a piece of
cloth in Eugene Dutuit, Manuel de L'Amateur D'Estampes, IV
(Amsterdam: G.W. Hissink, 1970-72), 20. The image was reproduced on
the cover of WAJ (S/S 81), to illustrate Margarita Russell, "The Women
Painters in Houbraken's Groote Schouburgh."
19. Advice against the vain wasting of money on costly apparel is found
in Jan Hendrik Glazemaker, De Deugdelijke Vrou (Amsterdam:
Gijsbrecht Jansz. van Veen, 1643), 146-47; Petrus Wittewrongel,
Oeconomia Christiana, II (Amsterdam, 1661), 723-28; Houwlijx-Spiegel,
aen de Nieuwe Getroude (Haarlem: Jan Gerritsz. Geldorp, 1686), A4; De
Verstandige Huys-Houder... (Amsterdam: Cornelis Jansz., 1661), 6; and
Roemer Visscher, Sinnepoppen (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1949), 145.
20. Roemer Visscher, Sinnepoppen, 145. There are many Netherlandish
images of females admiring themselves, for example, Young
Woman with a Mirror (1627) by Paulus Moreelse in the Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge, in which a voluptuous woman sits before a table
with mirror and jewels. There are no images that duplicate Roghman's
print, but a similar type of moral can be found in The Cloth Shop (1709)
by Matthys Naiveu in the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden. Here
a woman in a cloth shop carefully examines and fingers a costly looking
piece of material. In all her finery, she is placed in direct contrast to her
more virtuous husband at the left, who is giving money to a beggar boy.
The symbols, gestures, and moral are all more overt and male-oriented
than in Roghman's image. The meaning of the Naiveu painting is discussed
in Sutton, Masters, 268; and Eric J. Sluijter, Marlies Enklaar, Paul
Nieuwenhuizen, eds., Leidse Fijnschilders (Zwolle: Waanders, 1988),
191-92.
21. The evil connotations of pancake baking are discussed by Jonathan
Markell in Franklin W. Robinson, ed., Dutch Life in the Golden Century
(St. Petersburg, Fla.: Museum of Fine Arts, 1975), 41.
22. An example of these evil associations can be seen in the pancakemaking
hag in Saul and the Witch of Endor by Jacob Cornelisz van
Oostsanen (1470-1533) in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. For several
Netherlandish images of old pancake bakers and a discussion of the tradition,
see Eduard Trautscholdt, "'De Oude Koekebakster' Nachtrag zu
Adriaen Brouwer," Pantheon (July-August 1961), 187-95.
23. See Stone-Ferrier, Dutch Prints, 59-61. De Jongh states that figures
2 and 4 represent the virtuous fulfillment of female duties; see
Portretten, 29. Problems in interpreting the meaning of these prints have
arisen because the series has never been discussed in its entirety.
24. See, for example, Jacob Cats, Dichterlijke Werken van Jacob Cats,
Pieter Gerardus Witsen Geysbeek, ed., I (Amsterdam: Gebroeders
Diederichs, 1828), 342-43; Wittewrongel, Oeconomia, II, 723; and
Versameling van uytgeleesene Sinne-Beelden (Leiden, 1696), 4.
25. Eddy de Jongh, Zinne- en minnebeelden in de schilderkunst van de
zeventiende eeuw (Amsterdam: Nederlandse Stichting Openbaar
Kunstbezit en Openbaar Kunstbezit in Vlaanderen, 1967), 65.
26. Stone-Ferrier, Dutch Prints, 60; Chadwick, Women, Art, and
Society, 115.
27. This association was first discussed in connection with Dutch genre
painting in Eddy de Jongh, "Erotica in vogelperspectief: De dubbelzinnigheid
van een reeks 17de eeuwse genrevoorstellingen," Simiolus, 3:1,
(1968-69), 45.
28. Many of the elements present in Van Hoeven's painting can be
seen in other works, such as The Kitchenmaid by Herman Saftleven
(1609-85) in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, in which another
old man flirts with the maid while being spied upon by a woman. Other
paintings that incorporate elements similar to those found in Steen's work
include The Kitchenmaid (1664; Uffizi, Florence) by Caspar Netscher, in
which a young maid standing at a window scrubs a pot. The erotic innuendo
is underscored by the pot, spout, candle, and holder that surround
her. A similar image, Farm Kitchen (1659; Musee d'Art et d'Histoire,
Geneva) by Quiringh van Brekelenkam has been compared to an emblem
of Jacob Cats in Petra ten-doesschate Chu, et al., Im Lichte Hollands:
Hollandische Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts aus den Sammlungen des
Fursten von Liechtenstein und aus Schweizer Besitz (Zurich: VerlagsHaus,
1987), 106-07. Although the connection between Cats's emblem and
Brekelenkam's painting is made, the warning against the loss of chastity
found in both is not mentioned in the catalogue entry. The discussion
focuses on the need to keep a clean household.
29. Figure 5 (misdated 18th century) was used to illustrate the historical
Dutch kitchen in Hermine Christine Hel'ene Moquette, De Vrouw
(Amsterdam: H. Meulenhoff, 1915), 114. Figures 1 and 4 document
"Women's Work" in Helga Mobius, Barbara Chruscik Beedham, trans.,
Woman of the Baroque Age (Montclair, N.J.: Abner Schram, 1982), 68-
69. Figure 3 illustrates 17th-century household implements in a permanent
furnishings exhibition at the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen,
Rotterdam, in "Pre-industriele Gebruiksvoorwerpen, 1150-1800," 294.
Figures 3 and 5 document 17th-century cooking equipment in Van Stolk,
Atlas, I, 349.
30. In Van Someren, Gegraveerde Portretten, 529, it is suggested that
WOMAN'S ART JOURNAL FALL 1993/WINTER 1994
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figures 1 and 2 contain portraits of the same woman, while in "Dames
gaan voor," 29, they were assumed to be self-portraits. Stone-Ferrier, in
Dutch Prints, 60, suggests that the details in the spinner indicate that the
artist was familiar with the craft.
31. Such interpretations are found throughout De Jongh, Tot Lering;
and Wayne E. Franits, "The Vertues which ought to be in a compleate
woman" (Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1987).
32. See Jacob Cats, Dichterlike Werken, 280, and Verstandige HuysHouder,
6.
33. Donald Haks, Huwelijk en Gezin in Holland in de 17de en 18de
eeuw (Assen: Van Gorcums's Historische Bibliotheek, 1982), 151-52;
Haks draws upon several 17th-century sources, including Cats, Alle de
Wercken; Wittewrongel, Oeconomia; and Godefridus Udemans,
Practycke, dat is hooftdeughtden,... (Dordrecht, 1640).
34. Simon Schama, "Wives and Wantons: Versions of Womanhood in
Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art," The Oxford Art Journal (April 1980),
5-13; Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches (New York: Knopf,
1987), 375-480; in his discussion Schama cities Johan van Beverwijck,
Van de Wtnementheyt des Vrouwelicken Geslachts (Dordrecht:
Hendrick van Esch voor Jasper Gorissz., 1643).
35. Herman Pleij, "Wie wordt er bang voor het boze wijf," De Revisor,
4:6 (1977), 41-42; Haks, Huwelijk, 156-57; Schama, "Wives," 6, and
Embarrassment, 407.
36. Schama, Embarrassment, 404-07. The rights of Dutch women in
comparison with English women are discussed in Alice Clare Carter,
"Marriage Counseling in the Early Seventeenth Century: England and
the Netherlands Compared," in Jan van Dorsten, ed., Ten Studies in
Anglo-Dutch Relations (Leiden: University Press, 1974), 94-127.
37. A. M. van der Woude, "Variations in the Size and Structure of the
Household in the United Provinces of the Netherlands in the
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries," in Household and Fam
Past Time, Peter Laslett, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge Universit
311-12.
38. Carter, "Marriage counseling," 123-26; Schama, Embarrassment,
404-06.
39. These documents are discussed and translated in Schama,
Embarrassment, 402-04; Martha Moffitt Peacock, "Harpies and
Henpecked Husbands: Images of the Powerful Housewife in
Netherlandish Art 1550-1700" (Ph.D. dissertation, The Ohio State
University, 1989).
40. Schama, "Wives," 5-13 and Embarrassment, 375-480; Peacock,
"Harpies."
Martha Moffitt Peacock, Assistant Professor of Art History at
Brigham Young University, is finishing a book on Netherlandish
images of powerful wives and henpecked husbands.
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