The Milkmaid
c. 1657–1658 · Oil on canvas · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
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About this work
- Artist
- Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675)
- Year
- c. 1657–1658
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 45.5 × 41 cm
- Collection
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
- Movement
- Dutch Golden Age
A kitchen maid pours milk from a jug into a bowl beside a window, with bread on the table and a foot-warmer on the floor behind her. Vermeer painted it in Delft in the late 1650s, early in his career, and it is one of only around thirty-five surviving works by him. The subject is humble but the handling is not: the bread crust is built from thick dots of paint that catch the light, the wall is a carefully modulated field of cool white, and the maid's yellow bodice and blue apron are rendered in expensive pigments. The composition is tightly cropped so the figure fills the small canvas and the act of pouring becomes the whole event. The painting has been in the Rijksmuseum since 1908, when it was acquired from the Six family collection.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Cool white wall, yellow bodice and blue apron make this a natural fit for a kitchen or dining room, close to where food is handled. A black frame on a warm neutral wall holds the quiet light; 16×24 keeps the small canvas honest.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Dutch Golden Age painting
- Era
- 17th century (c. 1657–1658)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- classic
- Rooms
- kitchen, dining room, living room, dorm room, hallway or entryway
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Milkmaid in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Milkmaid painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
