The Bird Seller
c. 1700–1710
Medium
black and white chalk on blue paper, laid down on brown paper
Dimensions
{"image":{"height":0.26,"width":0.223},"sheet":{"height":0.364,"width":0.289},"matted":{"height":0.41,"width":0.318,"depth":0.003}}
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
2019.10
Tags
About this artwork
In this market scene, the Dutch artist Willem van Mieris portrayed a man and woman in a poultry shop who negotiate over the price of a bird. A curtain is pulled aside above to reveal the scene—as if the viewer sees something in secret—while a faux relief panel below them portrays amorous putti. Market scenes portraying a man and a woman often carried amorous or lascivious connotations in 17th-century Holland, undertones that were acknowledged and enjoyed by the middle-class patrons who purchased...