A Girl seated outside a House
- Artist: Jacob Maris
- Date: 1867
- Medium: oil on wood
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is "A Girl seated outside a House" by Jacob Maris. Painted in 1867, it's an oil on wood piece that showcases the artist's attention to detail and his ability to capture everyday life.
Notice how the girl is decorating her straw hat with flowers. The jewellery she's wearing suggests that she may have just visited the church in the background, which is located in Montigny-sur-Loing, a small town south of Paris.
The composition of this painting is actually very similar to another piece by Maris, "Sunday Afternoon", but with some key differences. Instead of knitting, the girl is now decorating her hat, and she's also wearing more elaborate jewellery.
It's believed that the same model may have posed for another painting by Maris, "A Girl feeding a Bird in a Cage", which was painted around the same time. The use of similar elements in different paintings suggests that Maris often reused and reinterpreted his ideas in new works.
See it in person
A Girl seated outside a House hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
