30 - the Quack
25 november 2004
Gerrit Dou's Quack
The quack, 1652 by Gerrit Dou
Panel, 112 x 83 cm, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen-Rotterdam
Gerrit Dou
Few 17th-century Dutch painters were as famous during their lifetime as Dou. He achieved deceptively lifelike imitations of reality with his meticulous painting techniques. There are often deeper meanings hidden within the apparently everyday scenes: an intriguing puzzle for today's viewer. "EEN SCHIJN SONDER SIJN"
Dou was a master of miniature-scale painting. Many of his works are only a little larger than an A-4, and some, such as his Self-portrait (1645), are scarcely half as big as that. 'The quack' is one of the few larger panels.
Dou worked on wooden panels his whole life. The even surface of this material was ideally suited to the meticulous style in which he specialized at an early stage. He achieved an enamel-like effect with a thin, smooth layer of paint in which the brushstrokes could hardly be recognized.
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