Saying Grace – (Frans Van Mieris) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Frans Van Mieris

Date: 1655

Size: 57 x 63 cm

Technique: Oil On Panel

Lit brightly against an otherwise shadowy room, a seated, older woman and a standing young boy face each near a spinning wheel in this horizontal painting. Both have pale skin. The woman sits in a wooden chair facing our left in profile, as she cuts a slice into the top of a brown loaf in her lap. Her eyes and downturned mouth are lined with wrinkles, and jowls sag along her jawline. She has slightly protruding eyes, and the skin of her neck hangs a little loose. Her head is wrapped in a white, lace-edged scarf, which is gathered at the base of her skull. She wears a white, pleated ruff around her neck, which rests across a brown vest over golden-yellow sleeves. Light shimmers on her slate-gray apron, which drapes over a muted, cinnamon-brown skirt. The toes of black shoes peek out beneath her skirt, propped up on a block. She looks toward the boy who stands at her far knee, to our left. His body is angled toward the woman so his face is in shadow, and he looks down over clasped hands. His fingers are interlaced except for his steepled index fingers. He wears a worn brown jacket with frayed cuffs, and silver buttons down the front. His pants are olive green and his shoes are brown. A plate with a yellow substance sits on a three-legged stool near the woman and boy. Next to it, near the wall to our left, sunlight coming in from that window glints off the wooden spinning wheel. A handful of unspun, white wool sits in a cage atop a staff resting through the spokes of the wheel. Wood beams run across the wooden ceiling and frame the walls. The floor is also wood.