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Typical of his carefully composed, light-filled interiors, the picture is a fine example of De Hooch’s innovative contribution to domestic subjects in seventeenth-century Dutch art. Here the mother, teaching her daughter to peel apples, presents a positive female role model while the complimentary theme of marital love is represented by the cupid on the fireplace pillar. De Hooch’s attention to contemporary customs is shown by the black opthalmic patch on the woman’s temple, a supposed cure for sight disorders. The picture recalls Vermeer’s paintings of figures in a light filled corner of a room and was wrongly attributed to the latter in Thoré-Bürger’s pioneering study of Vermeer (1866).

The Wallace Collection

London

Title

A Woman Peeling Apples

Date

c.1663

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 67.1 x W 54.7 cm

Accession number

P23

Acquisition method

acquired by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford, 1848; bequeathed to the nation by Lady Wallace, 1897

Work type

Painting

The Wallace Collection

Hertford House, Manchester Square, London, Greater London W1U 3BN England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.

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Artist or maker

Pieter de Hooch

1629–1684

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A Boy Bringing Bread The Wallace Collection
A Woman Peeling Apples The Wallace Collection
Interior with a Woman Knitting, a Serving Woman and a Child Guildhall Art Gallery
Interior with a Gentleman and Two Ladies Conversing Manchester Art Gallery
A Game of Ninepins National Trust, Waddesdon Manor
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