Artwork
Group of Women Looking at Stereoscope Photographs
Group of Women Looking at Stereoscope Photographs is a wood painting by the Realist artist Jacob Spoel. It dates from 1868 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Overview
Jacob Spoel’s 1868 work Group of Women Looking at Stereoscope Photographs is a painted composition on wood, presently in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. The scene captures a domestic interior where six figures are gathered around a low table, illuminated by subdued daylight from a window and the glow of a fireplace.
Subject & Meaning
At the centre of the gathering a man holds a flat, white device that functions as a stereoscope, an early instrument for viewing paired photographs in three dimensions. The surrounding women, one of whom pours tea from a yellow dress, lean forward to examine the images, suggesting a moment of shared curiosity and the domestic uptake of new visual technologies.
Technique & Style
Spoel employs a restrained palette of warm earth tones, rendering the dark wooden furniture and the flickering firelight with soft chiaroscuro. The brushwork is delicate, allowing subtle gradations of shadow that convey the quiet intimacy of the interior while maintaining a clear, observational quality typical of mid‑nineteenth‑century genre painting.
History & Provenance
Created in 1868, the painting has remained in Dutch public collections and is now displayed at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Its medium—oil on wood—reflects a common practice among Dutch artists of the period, who often chose wooden panels for their smooth surface and durability.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Charles Ferdinand Pahud (1803-73). Gouverneur-generaal (1855-61)
Mrs A J Schmidt Keiser, widow of the painter Willem Hendrik Schmidt (1809-49), the teacher of Jacob Rinse with her brother Y N Keiser and her ten-year-old son
Bernhard (1792-1862), hertog van Saksen-Weimar. Generaal in Nederlandse dienst
Untitled
