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1 of 253523 objects
A Man Pulling a Lapdog's Ear in a Woman's Lap Signed and dated 1660
Oil on panel | 27.6 x 20.1 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 406636
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The Leiden painter Frans van Mieris specialised in genre scenes of everyday life depicted in meticulous detail and, like other Dutch artists of the period, sometimes incorporated self-portraits into his narrative. This is a copy of a painting in the Mauritshuis, probably by one of van Mieris’s followers. The man is a self-portrait of the artist, while the woman is his wife, Cunera van der Cock (c.1630–1700), whom he had married in 1657. These identifications were recognised in 1717 by the earliest-known owner of the original painting, Coenraet Droste, who sang of the painting: ‘Who has ever contrived, with Turkish rugs, colours velvet and bright, To fill his paintings with such splendid sights, As could the Elder Mieris? Who here himself portrays, and on his Wife’s lap with a young puppy plays’. The artist’s lecherous grin indicates that the episode is far from innocent: a contemporary viewer would interpret the man’s action as a lewd joke – he would rather stroke the woman than the dog.
Text adapted from Portrait of the Artist, London, 2016
Inscribed on the pediment: 'F. van Mieris fe. 1660'Provenance
Purchased by George IV from Sir Thomas Baring as part of a group of 86 Dutch and Flemish paintings, most of which were collected by Sir Thomas’s father, Sir Francis Baring; they arrived at Carlton House on 6 May 1814; recorded in the Bow Room, Ground Floor, at Carlton House in 1819 (no 114) and Anti-Room to the Dining Room in 1819 (no 94); in the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace in 1841 (no 147)
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Creator(s)
(framemaker)Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on panel
Measurements
27.6 x 20.1 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
47.0 x 39.8 x 4.3 cm (whole object)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
The artist and his wife, previously entitled
A trick of love, previously entitled.