Artwork
The Milkmaid
The Milkmaid is an ink print by the Baroque artist French 17th Century. It dates from 1650 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. The work is an etching that depicts a woman wearing a large, traditional hat while holding a jug and a basket.
About this work
Overview
The work is an etching that depicts a woman wearing a large, traditional hat while holding a jug and a basket. She is positioned centrally amid a lively composition that includes trees, a pavilion, and groups of figures in the background. The image is rendered with crisp lines, and illumination highlights her face and garments, giving her a distinct presence within the scene.
Subject & Meaning
The central figure appears to be a milkmaid or domestic worker, suggested by the jug and basket she carries. Her placement among bustling surroundings may allude to everyday labor within a communal setting, emphasizing the role of ordinary tasks in public life.
Technique & Style
The artist employed traditional etching methods, using acid to incise lines into a metal plate and then printing onto paper.
The artist employed traditional etching methods, using acid to incise lines into a metal plate and then printing onto paper. Varying densities of line work create shading that models the folds of the dress and the curvature of the jug, producing a sense of depth despite the monochrome medium. The sharpness of the lines and the controlled contrast are characteristic of the medium’s capacity for fine detail.
History & Provenance
The print is identified simply as an etching titled "The Milkmaid"; no further information about its creation date, the artist’s identity, or its ownership history is provided in the source material.
Artist & collection
Artist
Seventeenth-century French printmakers turned ink into story. Their tools were burin and acid, paper their stage. Look at the Beggar Woman with Rosary (1622), etched on laid paper, her hands folded around faith, or The…
Noble Woman in Profile with her Hands in a Muff
Noble Woman with Large Collar
Noble Woman in Profile with her Hands in a Muff
Standing Servant Woman
Mulier Svevica Inferioris Conditionis
Peasant Woman with Basket, Facing Left
Noble Woman with Large Collar
Noble Woman with Large Collar
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Peasant Woman with Basket, in Profile, Facing Left
Peasant Woman with Basket, in Profile, Facing Right