1639, Adrien van Ostade, Country Family in a Shed -- Frans Hals Museum (Haarlem)
From the museum label: Adriaen van Ostade specialised in country scenes with a harmonious, homely atmosphere. Urban collectors loved these idyllic depictions of village life and pastoral concord. This painting shows a country family cleaning mussels. A simple job, yet it signified more to 17th-century audiences than we might imagine today: when they saw mussels, a man holding a spool and a foot-stove, they saw erotic symbols. So, perhaps this idyll is not as innocent as it seems.
1639, Adrien van Ostade, Country Family in a Shed -- Frans Hals Museum (Haarlem)
From the museum label: Adriaen van Ostade specialised in country scenes with a harmonious, homely atmosphere. Urban collectors loved these idyllic depictions of village life and pastoral concord. This painting shows a country family cleaning mussels. A simple job, yet it signified more to 17th-century audiences than we might imagine today: when they saw mussels, a man holding a spool and a foot-stove, they saw erotic symbols. So, perhaps this idyll is not as innocent as it seems.