A Mother Feeding her Child (The Happy Mother)1707
Willem van Mieris painted this in 1707, aged 45. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago. More about this work
About this work
Painting of a scene in a dimly-lit, cavernous room with a bassinet and small table. A shaft of light falls on four figures: a light-skinned woman in a white head covering, a baby on her lap, a male figure at her side, and a small dog at their feet. The couple feeds the fussing baby from a bowl, smiling.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
Willem van Mieris painted this in 1707, aged 45. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Oil on panel
- Oil paint on prepared wooden boards, usually oak in the north and poplar in Italy. The rigid, smooth surface suits fine detail and thin, glowing glazes.
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Willem van Mieris
Dutch, 1662–1747
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1890.42
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
