This painting of a baker working dough on a table at an open window was formerly attributed to the Dutch artist Carel Pietersz Fabritius (1622-1654), Rembrandt's most gifted pupil. Although the work can be assigned to the larger school of Rembrandt's followers, it is not likely the work of Carel Fabritius. Other attributions have suggested artists from the circles of Egbert van der Poel (1621-1664), Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685), and Carel Fabritius's brother, Barent (or Bernard) Pietersz Fabritius (1624-1673).

Indoor genre scenes with peasants, craftsmen, or farmhands engaged in various activities were typical of Dutch seventeenth-century painting. On occasion, such works served to criticize worldly vices and pleasures or to represent the embodiment of the five senses. Whoever the artist of this painting, he has employed the light of the open window to concentrate attention on the baker, who literally pushes his weight into his kneeding of the dough, and on the tactile nature of his work. The painting might, therefore, be an allegory of the sense of touch. The artist's use of light also emphasizes the baker's concentration and his physical exersion. He is represented naked to the waist and wearing a white cap and breeches. Behind him, a woman bending over is less distinctly seen from the back. A large covered terra cotta container, possibly for water, stands on the floor next to the table. Two instruments and a large balance scale with weights in one of its pans hang against the far reveal of the larger window.

J. Carder

Svenska Dagbaldet (March 18, 1936).

Decoen, Jean. "Carel Fabritius," The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs vol. 69, no. 401 (August 1936), 58, pl. 3a.

Washington, DC. Dumbarton Oaks, "75 Years/75 Objects: Celebrating 75 Years of the Dumbarton Oaks Museum," September 8, 2015 - May 22, 2016.

Purchased from Gösta Stenman, Stockholm (dealer), by Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, 3/1936.

Collection of Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, D.C., 3/1936-1/17/1969.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, House Collection, Washington, D.C.