Interior with a Sleeping Maid and her Mistress ('The Idle Servant')

Nicolaes Maes signed and dated this panel in 1655, and its popular name, The Idle Servant, is harsher than the picture. On the floor pots, pans, a colander and plates lie everywhere, the aftermath of cooking a large meal, and through the doorway behind the mistress a company sits at table. The maid who did the work has dropped onto a stool with her head in her hand. Dutch viewers knew that pose as the traditional figure of Acedia, or Sloth. Her mistress is smiling, though. She turns toward us with an open palm as if asking what she is supposed to do with the girl. Up on the dresser a cat has seized its chance and is helping itself from a dish. The painting came to the National Gallery in 1847, bequeathed by Richard Simmons, and hangs in Room 26.