Portret van een vrouw met een zwaan en een papegaai in een tuin 1710 - 1777

Mattheus Verheyden made this drawing of a woman with a swan and parrot in a garden with pen and gray ink and gray wash. It portrays a subject that was fashionable in eighteenth-century Holland. The woman's dress and hairstyle, the formal garden, and the presence of exotic animals all speak to her elevated social status. Swans and parrots were luxury items, and owning them was a sign of wealth. The woman's relaxed pose and the idyllic setting suggest a life of leisure and privilege. The drawing can be read as a comment on the social structures of the time, as it celebrates the wealth and power of the elite. It reflects the values of a society that prized elegance, refinement, and the accumulation of material possessions. To gain a fuller understanding of this drawing, we might consult period fashion plates, estate inventories, and other sources that shed light on the lives of wealthy Dutch women in the 1700s.