Van der Mij was a pupil of Frans van Mieris II, a pupil of his father, Frans van Mieris I, who in turn was a pupil of Gerrit Dou. This work is dated 1728, exactly a century after Dou began his professional career, entering Rembrandt’s studio in 1628; Van der Mij worked for another thirty years, producing small genre scenes, like this one, in the manner of the ‘Leiden Fine Painters (‘Fijnschilders’). All this demonstrates the extraordinary extent and longevity of the tradition of Gerrit Dou.

By this date the imagery of the peasant family has perhaps become more idealised and integrated into the esteemed traditions of painting. There is here, for example, a very conscious echo of the Holy Family with an elder brother clutching the family spaniel, playing the role of the infant John the Baptist clutching his lamb. It is often said that Italian altarpieces exhibit ‘pyramidal compositions’; the family here certainly does.

Inscribed: 'H: van d. Mij / Ao 1728'