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The Eavesdropper
Nicolaes Maes (Dutch, 1634–1693)
1655–56
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
72.39 x 52.07 cm (28 1/2 x 20 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution
Accession Number89.504
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
This painting is one of a series that Maes painted in Dordrecht between 1655 and 1657. In each one an eavesdropper (usually a woman) exposes the peccadilloes of other members of the household. The artist employed gentle satire and an ingenious narrative structure to ridicule the vices of sloth, anger, and lust. Here, the eavesdropper engages the viewer directly; in the background a servant is receiving the advances of a suitor. Maes was among the first Dutch painters to depict the domestic interior as a suite of rooms rather than as a shallow, three-walled box. In this he decisively influenced Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch.
Provenance1862, the widow Mrs. van Griensven-Berntz (d. by 1862); April 25, 1862, Griensven-Berntz sale, Nijhoff, The Hague, lot 19. Étienne Le Roy (b. 1808 - d. 1878), Brussels [see note 1]. 1880, Paul Pavlovich Demidoff, 2nd Prince of San Donato (b. 1839 - d. 1885), Florence; March 15 - April 10, 1880, Demidoff sale, San Donato Palace, lot 1060, to Stanton Blake (b. 1837 - d. 1889), Boston; 1889, purchased under the will of Stanton Blake by the MFA. (Accession Date: December 24, 1889)
NOTES:
[1] While it is not known precisely when he owned the painting, his wax seal (now largely obliterated) remains on the reverse.
NOTES:
[1] While it is not known precisely when he owned the painting, his wax seal (now largely obliterated) remains on the reverse.