signed and dated ‘Pieter Quast. f. 1640’
graphite on vellum, graphite framing lines
22.7 x 17.1 cm

This tender scene stands out in Quast’s drawn œuvre for its subject matter. Seated on a rock is an
elegantly dressed lady with what could be her child. Mother and child hold a picture depicting a
portrait of a man which is likely to be the child’s father. While the majority of Quast’s drawings show
men drinking, playing cards and quarrelling, this sheet depicts a much more affectionate scene. Life
in 17th-century Holland was harsh, and it seems probable that the depicted man has either passed
away or is absent from home serving in military or naval service. The present sheet may therefore
have been created as a commemorative drawing for someone within Quast’s close circle of friends
or acquaintances.

Another possibility is that drawings such as the present one were executed in series or pairs, and that
they contained a moralistic message. Several other drawings with closely comparable compositions
have survived, and these might shed some further light on the drawings’ function. The present sheet
can be closely compared, for example, to a drawing of similar size, depicting an elegantly dressed lady
sitting on a rock and playing a lute, with a putto next to her singing from a score, previously with Bernard Houthakker, Amsterdam. [1] Furthermore, a drawing from the same year as the present sheet, showing an elegantly dressed man spanking a putto, now in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, is closely comparable. [2] One could wonder whether the two drawings once formed a pair, or whether they were part of a larger series. Yet another drawing, signed and dated 1638 and showing a mother which closely recalls the traditional iconography of the Virgin and Child, is in the Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle. [3] Given the fact that that drawing is closely comparable in terms of composition, but not in subject, could also suggest that these drawings were made directly for the art market, like many of Quast’s other drawings.

[1] W, Bernt, Die Niederländische Zeichner des 17. Jahrhunderts, Munich, 1958, vol. 2, no. 485, ill.
[2] Inv. KdZ 12157.
[3] See RKD no. 790266.