A Woman Spinning, Plate 4 from "Five Feminine Occupations"

A Woman Spinning, Plate 4 from "Five Feminine Occupations"

Geertruydt Roghman

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Roghman, from an Amsterdam family of artists, is known for some reproductive prints and her original suite of five engravings, "Household Tasks": sewing, spinning, reading (?), cooking, and cleaning cookware (see 56.500.2–.6). The two subjects set in kitchens are unusual in that the solitary maids are seen from behind. Each print presents a sober view of domestic work, but the kitchen scenes are remarkable for the figures' complete lack of individuality, to say nothing of appeal. In comparing Roghman's images of household servants with those of Dou and Vermeer, it is tempting to distinguish male and female points of view (as some critics have rather emphatically). Whatever the interpretation, it is important to bear in mind that Roghman's prints were intended for a broad art market, whereas Dou's famously expensive paintings (as opposed to the later prints after them) and The Milkmaid by Vermeer were made with individual collectors in mind.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A Woman Spinning, Plate 4 from "Five Feminine Occupations"A Woman Spinning, Plate 4 from "Five Feminine Occupations"A Woman Spinning, Plate 4 from "Five Feminine Occupations"A Woman Spinning, Plate 4 from "Five Feminine Occupations"A Woman Spinning, Plate 4 from "Five Feminine Occupations"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.