![Gerrit Dou - A Girl Chopping Onions [1646]](http://c2.staticflickr.com/1/458/31702385801_a9afa9ff6f_b.jpg)
A girl chopping onions is on a minute scale and is a perfect demonstration of the art of fijnschilders painting. The activities of kitchenmaids was one of Dou’s favourite themes, in which he could not only indulge in brilliant passages of still-life painting, but also pursue artistic themes. Lascivious kitchenmaids were frequently the subject of comedic literature in seventeenth-century Holland, and painters emphasised their charms by the use of symbolism based on contemporary emblem books or proverbs.
[Royal Collection Trust - Oil on oak panel, 20.8 x 16.9 cm]