Man and Woman at a Spinning Wheel
(c.1570)
Pieter Pietersz (Dutch, 1540/41-1603)
Oil on panel, 76 x 53 cm
Object number:SK-A-3962
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Purchased with support from the Stichting Jubileumfonds Rijksmuseum 1958
The air of romance in this painting does not bode well. The young lady does not seem to welcome the advances of the man seated beside her. Does she doubt his sincerity or should she or would she rather be working on her spinning and all that that entails? She looks a tad fed up - does he, in fact, frequently interrupt her work? Whatever the case, I like this painting for the detail of the tools even though we cannot see very much of the wheel.
4 comments:
Eee! I have that niddy-noddy, it looks almost exactly like mine (a Kromski). What is in her other hand? (This is Lynn from the Gunroom.)
I have a niddy-noddy that is similar, too, but half that size. My other one is a sleek modern model.
I think the other object is a quill spindle for flax but I don't spin flax so I cannot say so definitely.
She seems to be winding the thread from the object in her left hand onto the niddynoddy, to measure it into a skein. I tend to wonder whether such scenes are symbolic, given that the Fates spun, measured, and cut the length of men's lives. She has been interrupted in her measuring, and looks out at us, while the man almost doesn't seem to notice her, for all he's sitting so close.
Very nice, Tamar.
Thank you.
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