A Woman in a Red Jacket feeding a Parrot

Grey parrots from West Africa came to the Dutch Republic aboard its trading ships, and in the 1660s one was a costly pet, the kind a well-off household liked to have on view. This one is an African grey, hunched on its perch and eyeing the almond a young woman holds out to it. She has stopped sewing to do it. A thimble is still on her finger and a needle cushion rests on her knee. Her jacket is rose-pink velvet trimmed with white fur, over a cream satin skirt, and she smiles slightly, as if her mind is somewhere else. Van Mieris painted her around 1663 on copper, a smooth support that let him hide his brushstrokes almost completely, and the model is thought to be his wife, Cunera. It was one of the most successful pictures he ever made. He painted three versions himself, and other painters copied it many times.