Jacob Duck - Street Scene with Knife Grinder and Elegant Couple [c.1630-40]

Jacob Duck - Street Scene with Knife Grinder and Elegant Couple [c.1630-40], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Jacob Duck (1600 – buried Utrecht, January 1667) was a Dutch painter and etcher. Duck is thought to have been born in Utrecht. From 1611, he was trained in Utrecht to become a goldsmith, in which craft he became a master in 1619. He was primarily active in Utrecht, but between 1636 and 1646 also in Haarlem, while between 1656 and 1660 he lived in The Hague. In 1661 he returned to Utrecht, where he died and was buried at the monastery of St. Mary Magdalene.

[Los Angeles County Museum of Art - Oil on oak panel, 45.72 x 69.85 cm]

Jacob Duck - Interior with Soldiers and Women [c.1650]

Jacob Duck - Interior with Soldiers and Women [c.1650], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Framed by an arched doorway, two soldiers sit smoking, drinking, and chatting with a young woman who sits casually on tiled steps. Behind the woman, a warm light enters to permeate the setting and the objects and figures within. To the right, another woman descends a dark staircase and prepares to enter the room. In the foreground a jumble of objects, rifles, armour, a drum, a pipe, an overturned pail, and yellow drapery, form a more complicated still life grouping. On the back wall, a wooden rack holds pewter plates, crockery, and spoons. This genre scene, an unidealised view of everyday life illustrates Jacob Duck's (c.1600 - 1667) shrewd observation of costumes, setting, and objects, as well as his ability to render the surfaces of metal, stone, cloth, and wood.

[Paul Getty Museum - Oil on panel, 16.5 x 24 inches]