A Woman Peeling Apples

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A Woman Peeling Apples (c.1663)
A Woman Peeling Apples (c.1663)

A Woman Peeling Apples (c. 1663) is a painting by Dutch Master Pieter de Hooch. Depicting what was possibly a typical domestic scene from the time, it is an example of genre painting. Its sensitive handling of light—in particular, natural light filtered into an otherwise unlit interior space—led 19th century art historians to attribute it to Johannes Vermeer, with whose work the painting does bear strong similarities. However, Vermeer's work typically portrayed a woman working alone instead of a family scene as in A Woman Peeling Apples. Most scholars also now believe that de Hooch was influenced by Vermeer instead of Vermeer by de Hooch.

The painting is oil on canvas, 67cm x 55cm, and currently located at the Wallace Collection in London. It is also sometimes referred to in a longer form, A Woman Peeling Apples, with a Small Child.