The artwork titled “Two women with a child in court” by Pieter de Hooch, created around 1657, is an oil painting on panel from the Baroque art movement. Measuring 68 by 57.5 cm, this genre painting is housed at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio, US.
The painting depicts an everyday domestic scene featuring two women and a child. One woman, dressed in traditional 17th-century attire, is seen leaning over a window or open shutter, absorbed in her task. The other woman, also attired in the fashion of the time, appears to be engaged in laundry work, perhaps scrubbing or rinsing clothes in a large wooden tub. The child, positioned near the woman with the tub, gazes upward, possibly seeking attention or assistance. The backdrop reveals a courtyard setting, with architectural structures and a distant view of a church or tall building, characteristic of Pieter de Hooch’s work which often captures the interiors and courtyards of Dutch homes with meticulous detail and natural lighting, emphasizing the domestic tranquility and everyday life of that period.
