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An Old Woman seated sewing

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Notes

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This was painted seven years after the ending of the Thirty Years‘ War, one of the most destructive conflicts in European history and caused in part by a power struggle between Catholic and Protestant countries. We don’t know who the woman is, or if the painting was intended as a portrait or is a sympathetic – if stereotypical – representation of age and femininity. What is unusual, and seems a confirmation of the woman’s piety and strict religious views, is the picture on the wall behind her.

Van der Aack has included a copy of a portrait of Christian, Duke of Brunswick (1599–1626), a Protestant general. He fought for the United Provinces, which became the Dutch Republic, and was a violent Protestant partisan. So it would appear that the Duke was an icon for the Protestant religion; perhaps the old woman is a serene, but usefully occupied, feminine icon offered as an example to others.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

An Old Woman seated sewing

Date

1655

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 108.8 x W 82 cm

Accession number

NG1397

Acquisition method

Presented by Henry J. Pfungst, 1894

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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