3 discussion

ARTS 1A: Group Analysis 9

Judith Leyster The Proposition, 1631 Oil on canvas A poem from Houwelyck (Marriage), by Dutch poet Jacob Cats, published in 1625:

The man must be on the street to practice his trade, The wife must stay at home to be in the kitchen. The diligent practice of street wisdom may in the man be praised, But with the delicate wife, there should be quiet and steady ways. So you, industrious husband, go to earn your living While you, O young wife, attend to your household.

Explanatory note: This poem by Jacob Cats is about gender roles of married women and men in The Netherlands in the seventeenth century. In the painting by Judith Leyster (pictured above), the man and the woman are not married to each other. The poem is not a description of the painting. The painting is not an illustration of the poem. Question: The poem is about marriage. The painting depicts two people who are not married. But in what ways do both the poem and the painting reflect gender roles in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century?

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