Artwork
The little Nurse
The little Nurse is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Jacob Vrel. It dates from 1650 and is held in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.
About this work
Overview
The work, titled *The Little Nurse*, is an oil painting from the mid‑17th century attributed to Jacob Vrel, an artist active during the Dutch Golden Age. Executed around 1650, the canvas portrays a domestic interior illuminated by a narrow window, and is part of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp’s collection.
Subject & Meaning
A solitary woman, dressed in a brown gown with a white apron and cap, sits near a modest hearth and box‑bed, gazing outward through the window. The sparse furnishings—a small table, a chair, and stone flooring—suggest a quiet, everyday moment, reflecting the genre‑painting focus on ordinary domestic life.
Technique & Style
Vrel employs a realistic approach with careful attention to texture, rendering fabric, stone, and wood with tactile precision. The composition relies on chiaroscuro, using contrasts of light and shadow to model forms and convey depth, a hallmark of Vrel’s handling of light in his Dutch‑Golden‑Age interiors.
History & Provenance
The painting was likely created between 1654 and 1662, aligning with Vrel’s documented period of activity. It has remained in the public domain, eventually entering the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where it is displayed among other Dutch genre works.
Artist & collection
Artist
Jacob Vrel (fl. 1654 – c.1670) was a Dutch, Flemish, or Westphalian painter of interiors and urban street scenes during the Dutch Golden Age (1588–1672). He was likely most active from 1654 to 1662.
Nursing Mother, and Child with Serving Maid
Young Woman in an Interior
Reading Woman
A Dutch Interior
Interior with Woman at the Spinning Wheel
Interior with Woman at the Spinning Wheel
Man with a glass and a woman with a jug in an interior
Interior with Women beside a Linen Cupboard
Eine nähende Mutter mit ihrem Kind
The Tailor
A Couple Making Music at a Table, with a Serving Girl