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The Baroque Era in Art

lip," a watercolor from 1643. In addition to raising five children, she seems to have taken a strong hand in administering the affairs of Molenaer's art studio and his private art dealing.

Judith Leyster's "The Proposition" is signed and dated 1631. The painting has recently been subject to iconographic speculation, though the topic is not obscure. The painting shows a woman sitting and sewing by lamplight as a man leans over her, touching her upper arm and showing her a handful of coins. This is clearly a proposition in the same tradition as works by the Dutch Caravaggisti, such as Honthorst's "At the Procuress" from 1625 or Dirk van Baburen's "The Procuress" from 1622. Some of the symbolism is obscure without a knowledge of other Dutch paintings and certain language of the time. The representation of sewing, for instance, is intended to be ambiguous, for it is both a stereotypic illustration of domestic virtue and an evocation of the fact that "to sew" is Dutch slang for sexual intercourse. Normally in such paintings, the woman is seen to be a willing and active participant in the sexual transaction, as can be seen in the works of the Caravaggisti, but Leyster offers a more uncertain image. The woman in this picture is sewing in the domestic sense and could be a diligent housewife. Indeed, she seems unresponsive to the proposition being made to her:

She is not entertaining the man, nor is she drinking, smoking, singing, wearing a provocative gown. Leyster's work may be considered a critical response to those of her predecessors and stands apart in iconography even from the copies or variants after it.

The work is unusual in Dutch art in subject and style, and this is the first time a visible light source is shown in a dated Haarlem night painting, which seems to indicate the influence of the Caravaggisti. The same motif is repeated in other domestic scenes by Leyster. The work is similar to later works by Gera...

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The Baroque Era in Art. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 07:10, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1692657.html