Artwork
Sleeping Man having his Pockets Picked
Sleeping Man having his Pockets Picked is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Nicolaes Maes. It dates from 1655 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition blends genre realism with a subtle moral undertone, portraying the act of theft as an almost invisible intrusion into private space.
The painting shows a man asleep at a table while a woman reaches toward his pockets, a scene that captures a moment of everyday deception. Maes uses the domestic interior setting and the interaction between the figures to suggest the hidden vulnerability of an apparently idle subject. The composition blends genre realism with a subtle moral undertone, portraying the act of theft as an almost invisible intrusion into private space.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1655, this genre scene by Nicolaes Maes is an oil painting applied to a wooden panel support. The work measures 34.3 cm in height and 29.2 cm in width. Visually, the composition depicts a domestic interior containing a table, a sleeping man, and a woman, characteristic of the artist's narrative approach to everyday life.
The handling of the oil medium allows for the detailed rendering of figures and setting within these compact dimensions.
History & Provenance
Nicolaes Maes created the oil-on-panel painting Sleeping Man having his Pockets Picked in 1655. The work measures 34.3 cm in height and 29.2 cm in width. It is currently held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as part of the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection.
The available records do not specify a particular patron who commissioned the piece or details regarding its ownership chain prior to its inclusion in the van Otterloo Collection.
Overview
Nicolaes Maes painted Sleeping Man having his Pockets Picked in 1655. Executed in oil on canvas, the work belongs to the Dutch Golden Age genre tradition, depicting a quiet domestic interior with a narrative focus on everyday deceit.
Context
Genre scenes like this were popular in mid‑17th‑century Holland, offering moral commentary through everyday episodes. Maes’s choice of a sleeping victim and a sly thief aligns with contemporary cautionary tales about vigilance and the perils of complacency.
Artist & collection
Artist
Nicolaes Maes (January 1634 – December 1693; buried 24 December 1693) was a Dutch painter known for his genre scenes, portraits, religious compositions and the occasional still life.
- Self-portrait of the artist with his wife Isabella de Wolff in the inn
Idlers
A Woman Mending a Stocking
The Lace Maker
Scene in a Tavern
Young Woman Serving Wine to Cavalier
Breakfast
The Music Lesson
Dutch courtship
An Interior of the 17th Century
A Seated Woman with a Letter, a Gentleman Standing by Her
The Courtesan