Artwork
Woman with a Water Pitcher, and a Man by a Bed ("The Maidservant")
Woman with a Water Pitcher, and a Man by a Bed ("The Maidservant") is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Pieter de Hooch. It dates from 1667 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
A quiet seventeenth-century scene of a maid at work in a Dutch home, painted small in oil on a wood panel. It is one of many pictures Pieter de Hooch made of everyday life in Delft. The Met acquired it in 1909, and it has stayed there since.
Subject & Meaning
The composition presents a domestic interior scene centered on a maidservant standing in the foreground holding a dish and mug, with a man seated beside a bed.
The composition presents a domestic interior scene centered on a maidservant standing in the foreground holding a dish and mug, with a man seated beside a bed. According to Hofstede de Groot's 1908 documentation, the man in a nightgown was originally shown conversing with a woman lying in bed, while a fur-trimmed cape and hat rested on a draped table nearby. The painting has since been cut down, removing the bedridden woman, and the man was overpainted, leaving the maidservant as the dominant figure and prompting the title's revision.
The depicted elements reflect Pieter de Hooch's characteristic interest in quiet household moments of the Dutch Golden Age, where sunlight streaming through an open doorway into an adjoining room lends the scene a sense of calm, ordered daily life.
Technique & Style
The painting is executed in oil on panel, a support commonly used by Dutch artists of the period for small-scale genre scenes. De Hooch's handling emphasizes controlled light and refined spatial recession, using a restricted palette of ochres, umbers, and cool grays to articulate the interior's geometry. Subtle glazing creates luminous transitions, especially in the sunlit wall and the maid's apron.
The composition's clarity derives from a single, calibrated viewpoint that aligns the open doorway, floor tiles, and bedding to guide the eye inward. Overpaint on the male figure and the later cut-down of the right edge altered the original narrative focus, shifting attention from the recumbent woman to the standing maid.
History & Provenance
Created by Pieter de Hooch circa 1667 to 1670, this oil-on-panel work underwent significant physical alteration during its history. Originally depicting a gentleman and lady in a bedroom, the painting was cut down to remove the woman in bed, and the man was painted over, shifting the focus to the maidservant. The earliest documented ownership traces to Aron de Joseph de Pinto, whose 1785 Amsterdam sale listed the piece as "Gentleman and Lady in a Bedroom."
The work subsequently passed through Parisian and Brussels collections, including those of Van Helsleuter, Henry Héris, and Colonel Brié, before reaching New York by 1851. It remained in the collection of H. A. Hammond Smith until 1916, when it was sold to the dealer Kleinberger. In 1917 Michael Friedsam acquired the painting, and it entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection following his death, where it is accessioned as 32.100.15.
Overview
Woman with a Water Pitcher, and a Man by a Bed, commonly known as The Maidservant, is an oil-on-panel painting created by the Dutch Golden Age artist Pieter de Hooch in 1667. The work depicts a domestic interior scene characteristic of de Hooch's mature period in Delft. In the composition, a maid stands in the foreground holding a water pitcher, her attention directed toward a man reclining on a bed in the adjacent room, visible through an open doorway.
This spatial arrangement exemplifies the artist's mastery of perspective and his interest in the interplay between separate interior spaces. The painting utilizes a restrained palette and careful attention to light filtering through the room to create a sense of quiet, everyday realism. Executed on a small wood panel, the work reflects the intimate scale typical of Dutch genre painting from this era.
It was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1909, where it remains part of the collection. The piece stands as a significant example of de Hooch's contribution to the depiction of 17th-century Dutch domestic life, emphasizing order, cleanliness, and the dignity of daily routines.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Pieter Hendricksz. de Hooch (Dutch:; also spelled Hoogh or Hooghe; bapt. 20 December 1629 – after 1683), was a Dutch Golden Age painter famous for his genre works of quiet domestic scenes with an open doorway. He was a…
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