Woman making pancakes 1670 - 1709

Bernardus van Schijndel created this painting of a woman making pancakes using oil on canvas. It's a scene from everyday life. But what makes this more than just a snapshot is the way Schijndel uses paint to evoke the textures and materials of the scene: the rough earthenware pot, the worn wooden table, and the glazes and impasto used to build up the image. The social context is also crucial. Pancake-making was a common domestic task, and the image speaks to the labor involved in feeding a family. The painting also alludes to the emerging culture of consumption in 17th-century Holland, where everyday goods like pancakes were becoming more readily available. By attending to the materials, processes, and social context of this work, we can appreciate the depth and complexity of what might at first appear to be a simple genre scene. It's a reminder that even the most humble of subjects can be rich with meaning when we consider the world in which it was made.