Pieter de Hooch
Born – Rotterdam, Netherlands 1629
Died – Amsterdam, Netherlands 1684
Pieter de Hooch was a contemporary of Vermeer. Both painters worked mainly in Delft where they recorded domestic scenes from middle-class life. Like Vermeer, de Hooch was particularly interested in the fall of light upon surfaces. Typically, his paintings feature either a sunny courtyard juxtaposed with a view into the shadows of a house or a dim interior lit by bright natural light falling through a door or window. A Woman Peeling Apples is characteristic of the latter. Absorbed in her household duties the woman is watched silently by a small child. It is a comfortable and tranquil scene in which the gloom and heaviness of the dark room is relieved by the light steaming through the window, as well as the warmth of his simple interiors, began to paint grandiose scenes of Dutch high life. His art declined from this point until his death in an asylum some 20 years later.
Masterpieces:
• Courtyard of a House in Delft
• The Pantry
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Pieter de Hooch
Pieter de Hooch: A Woman Preparing Bread and Butter for a Boy (Getty Museum Studies on Art)
Pieter de Hooch