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Herdswoman and Her Daughter (Primary Title)

Jan Siberechts, Flemish, 1627 - ca. 1703, also active in England (Artist)

1667
Flemish
Paintings
oil on canvas
European Art
Unframed: 48 1/2 × 49 in. (123.19 × 124.46 cm)
Framed: 60 15/16 × 60 1/4 in. (154.78 × 153.04 cm)
61.50
Not on view

Jan Siberechts was one of the most important Flemish artists of the late 1600s. Almost all of the paintings from his best period, 1650 to the mid-1670s, are serious and unsentimental portrayals of peasants.

This painting is considered his masterpiece, though he painted the subject numerous times. Here, a herdswoman fastens flowers in her daughter’s hair; in similar paintings of the period, however, the mother is shown picking lice. The flowers in this painting were probably added later, when picking lice became distasteful. At the time, having lice carried no stigma and a scene like this portrayed conscientious motherhood.

Signed and dated lower right, "J. Siberechts 1667"
Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund
17th Century Dutch and Flemish Painting, Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts, Roanoke, VA, March 26 - April 22, 1981

Grande Saison Internationale de l’Eau, Liège, Belgium, April - August 1939, No. 163

Mester Werken uit Vier Eeuwen 1400-1800, Boymans Museum, Rotterdam, June 25 -October 15, 1938

Oude Kunst uit Haagsch Bezit, Gemeente Museum, The Hague, December 12, 1936 -January 31, 1937, No. 182

Kunstzaal Kley Kamp, The Hague, 1932, No. 18.

Exhibition of Belgian Art, Glyptotek, Copenhagen, April 26 - May 25, 1931, No. 32

World Exhibition: Exposition d’Art Flamand Ancient, Antwerp, June - September 1930, No. 275

Drei Jahrhunderte Flamische Kunst, Vienna, January 11 - February 23, 1930, No. 120

Exhibition of Belgian Art, Budapest, May - June 1927, No. 26.

Exhibition of Flemish and Belgian Art, 1300-1440, Burlington House, London, January 8 - March 1927

Exposition du Paysage Flamand, Musée Royale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, September 8- November 8, 1926
Collection of Henri de Rochefort. [1] Collection of Count André de Ganay. Collection of Paul Mersch. Collection of S. Del Monte, Brussels; [2] Collection of the heirs of S. Del Monte; (Sotheby & Co., London) by June of 1959. [3] (M. Knoedler & Co., New York) by 1960; Purchased by Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), Richmond, Virginia in October of 1960. [4]

[1] Possibly Victor Henri Rochefort, Marquis de Rochefort-Luçay [1831-1913], French politician, journalist and playwright. Unconfirmed.

[2] See Gustav Gluck, La Collection Del Monte (Vienna: Anton Schroll, 1928), 14.

[3] Sold Lot 56 on June 24th, 1959. See Catalogue of Important Old Master Paintings, Wednesday, June 24th, 1959 (London: Sotheby & Co., 1959), 35.

[4] Accessioned October 19, 1960. See VMFA Curatorial file.
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC

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