Shown from the waist up on the other side of a strawberry-red table, an elderly, pale-skinned woman sits facing us, sleeping with her head propped on her hand in this vertical painting. She is brightly lit from our upper left, which creates deep shadows across her face, and behind and around her. The woman rests her cheek against her closed left fist, to our right. That elbow is propped on a gold and amber-yellow cushion tucked into the corner where the table meets the wall to our right. Her brows are slightly furrowed over deep-set eyes. She has loose jowls, thin lips, and wrinkles line the…
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An Old Woman Dozing over a Book

Nicolaes Maes (Dutch, 1634 - 1693)

c. 1655

Medium
oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
overall: 82.2 x 67 cm (32 3/8 x 26 3/8 in.)
Culture
Dutch
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CNE-B
Credit line
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art