1670s

Girl with a Parrot

Gerrit Dou was Rembrandt’s first pupil and established himself as the founder of the so-called fijnschilder (fine-painter) style, characterized by illusionism, smooth surfaces, and minutely rendered details. This work by a close follower of Dou uses a compositional format typical of the artist in which a figure leans over the ledge of an arched window and thereby draws the viewer’s gaze into the pictorial space. This young woman’s address to the viewer may be less innocent than it first appears, as the caged bird is symbolic of honor in need of preservation.