Image Courtesy: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, public domain
Artist: Gabriël Metsu (Dutch, Leiden 1629–1667 Amsterdam)
In 17th-century Holland the “kraamvisite” or “kraambezoek,” (cradle- or nursery-visit), was an important social ritual where friends and family visit the parents of a newborn to offer well wishes and gifts, in turn enjoying special delicacies. This tradition continued in New Amsterdam and even lives on today in Holland (one offers “beschuit met muisjes,” rusks with pink or blue candied anise sprinkles). Such “newborn scenes” belonged to a popular genre at the time, featuring the baby, its proud parents and delighted visitors. This impressive painting not only shows this social custom but also depicts the richly decorated interior and equally elegant young mother, dressed according to the latest fashion in a satin skirt with red velvet, fur-trimmed jacket.
Metropolitan Museum Summary: In an impressively appointed room, modeled on a large chamber in the new Town Hall of Amsterdam, the parents of a newborn baby receive a fashionable well-wisher. Such a kraambezoek (cradle visit) was a minor ritual of polite society. At least two of the poses recall figures by one of Holland’s closest observers of modern manners, Gerard ter Borch. The painting was celebrated in its own time—for example, in a poem by Jan Vos of 1662—but unfortunately its surface is badly worn from cleanings in the past.
Reference:
Object Number: 17.190.20
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 30 1/2 x 32 in. (77.5 x 81.3 cm)