Artwork
Peasant Woman with a Cat
Peasant Woman with a Cat is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist David Ryckaert III. It dates from 1640 and is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The cat, often associated in Dutch and Flemish imagery with domesticity and the hearth, reinforces the intimate, homey character of the scene.
Painted in 1640 by David Ryckaert III, Peasant Woman with a Cat presents a humble domestic scene rooted in Flemish genre tradition. The composition centers on a peasant woman accompanied by a cat, with a bowl of porridge included as a further marker of everyday rural life. By focusing on ordinary figures and modest activities rather than mythological or aristocratic subjects, Ryckaert aligns the work with the seventeenth-century Flemish interest in depicting common people with dignity and naturalistic detail.
The pairing of woman, cat, and porridge carries understated symbolic weight. The cat, often associated in Dutch and Flemish imagery with domesticity and the hearth, reinforces the intimate, homey character of the scene. Porridge, as a simple staple food, underscores themes of sustenance, labor, and the routines of peasant life.
Together, these elements transform a quiet interior moment into a meditation on the dignity of ordinary domestic existence.
Technique & Style
Peasant Woman with a Cat is an oil painting on canvas, executed in 1640 by David Ryckaert III in the Flemish tradition. The work is a modest-scale genre scene, measuring 28 cm in height by 34.8 cm in width, and belongs to the Hermitage Museum collection. Its medium and support align with the standard Flemish cabinet-picture format of the period, suited to intimate depictions of everyday rural life.
Stylistically, the painting belongs to the genre art category, focusing on a peasant woman and a cat, with porridge included among the depicted elements. The handling is consistent with Ryckaert's small-format rustic scenes, in which figures, animals, and humble domestic objects are rendered with careful attention to texture and atmosphere within a tightly composed format.
History & Provenance
David Ryckaert III created the oil-on-canvas painting Peasant Woman with a Cat in 1640 in Flanders. The work, measuring 28 cm in height and 34.8 cm in width, depicts a woman, a cat, and a bowl of porridge. Historical records indicate that the painting was once owned by Heinrich von Brühl. It is currently held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum.
The painting Peasant Woman with a Cat by David Ryckaert III is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum. Created in 1640, the work was previously owned by Heinrich von Brühl before entering the museum's holdings. The piece depicts a woman with a cat and porridge, executed in oil on canvas.
No specific inventory number or detailed exhibition history for this work is provided in the available sources.
Overview
Created in 1640 by the Antwerp‑based artist David Ryckaert III, this oil painting depicts a modest interior scene in which a peasant woman attends to a cat while preparing a simple meal. The work belongs to the Flemish Baroque tradition and is currently housed in the State Hermitage Museum.
Artist & collection
Artist
David Ryckaert III, David Rijckaert III or David Rijckaert the Younger (2 December 1612, Antwerp – 11 November 1661, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter known for his contribution to genre painting, in particular through his scenes of merry…
- Mother and Child
Häusliche Toilette
An Old Man with a Child in a Highchair
Interior with Nursing Mother
Sending the Boy for Beer
The Breakfast
Oude vrouw met haar katten
The ill-matched couple
Peasants Warming Themselves
The woman cutting nails
En bondekone, som giver sin datter noget at spise
La vuelta al hogar