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Nicolaes Maes, 'The Idle Servant', 1655

About the work

Although the title of this picture is Interior with a Sleeping Maid and her Mistress it has become known as The Idle Servant. The young woman is slumped on a stool, head in hand, taking a snooze after the hard work involved in preparing a large meal; heavy pots and pans litter the floor. But the mistress doesn‘t appear to be condemning her for a mortal sin – she shrugs her shoulders with a smile that seems to say, ’what am I to do with her?‘

Nicolaes Maes was for a while a student of Rembrandt. Here he has used his master’s technique of chiaroscuro (’light dark', contrasting use of light and shade to create a dramatic effect) to pick out the important points in the story. The contrasts and rich colours lend atmosphere and demonstrate Maes’s considerable skills in portraying texture, mood and character – seventeenth-century Dutch genre painting at its finest.

Key facts

Full title
Interior with a Sleeping Maid and her Mistress ('The Idle Servant')
Artist
Nicolaes Maes
Artist dates
1634 - 1693
Date made
1655
Medium and support
oil on wood
Dimensions
70 × 53.3 cm
Inscription summary
Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit
Bequeathed by Richard Simmons, 1847
Inventory number
NG207
Location
Room 17
Collection
Main Collection
Previous owners
Frame
17th-century Italian Frame

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

More works by Nicolaes Maes

A Little Girl rocking a Cradle
A Little Girl rocking a Cradle
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A little girl looks out at us, as if eager for us to tell her that she’s doing her job well – her smile a little nervous, the hand on the cradle clutching it tight. She looks no more than five years old, but she’s been given the responsibility of looking after the baby that sleeps soundly, button...
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A Woman scraping Parsnips, with a Child standing by her
A Woman scraping Parsnips, with a Child standing by her
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At first glance, this dark room might seem bare and forbidding but the deep brown of the walls encloses the two figures in warmth and serenity. There’s just enough light to reveal them, but Maes doesn‘t show the window, so the comfortable atmosphere isn’t disturbed. The concentration of woman and...
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Christ blessing the Children
Christ blessing the Children
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Nicolaes Maes has turned a biblical moment into a scene from his own time, illustrating part of the Gospel of Matthew (19.13–14): ‘Then there were brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little childr...
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Portrait of a Man in a Black Wig
Portrait of a Man in a Black Wig
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Late in his career, Nicolaes Maes painted several small portraits in this style, often in an oval format. The background is dark, with a brown brocade curtain pushed to one side behind the sitter. A stylish young man confronts us with a direct gaze and half smile.We don’t know who this young man...
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Portrait of an Elderly Man in a Black Robe
Portrait of an Elderly Man in a Black Robe
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A warm light cast from the left illuminates a dark red curtain raised behind the sitter. This light seems to soften the man’s stern expression and the stark white of his stiff collar and cuffs.The old man in Nicolaes Maes’s portrait hasn’t been identified, even though he appears to be a man of so...
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Portrait of Jan de Reus
Portrait of Jan de Reus
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Jan de Reus is about 70 years old in this portrait. He looks out from a dark background, his lined face framed by the long curls of a full-bottomed wig. Each wrinkle is rendered with meticulous care. His mouth is sensitive, though the lips are perhaps not as clearly defined as they once would hav...
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