Giuseppe Maria Crespi and The Kitchenmaid

'The Kitchenmaid' (after 1712) by Giuseppe Maria Crespi; Uffizi Gallery, Florence

I had a small list of painters for today to choose from, none of whom I had ever heard of. I googled the images of their paintings and when I saw this one by the Italian artist Giuseppe Maria Crespi, I stopped looking. Then I read that the Wikipedia page names the 14th of March as his date of birth, while I got the date of the 16th of March from Safran-Arts. Luckily I found another site that gives 16 March 1665 as his date of birth, so that is good enough for me. Crespi was a Baroque painter and most famous for his genre paintings. Until the 17th century, Italian painters had mainly concentrated on painting religious, mythological or historical scenes,whereas e.g. Dutch painters had already a strong tradition in depicting the everyday life. This is such a painting, a domestic scene from everyday life. I love the use of light in this work. Actually, I love the whole scene because I like depictions of solitary activities. This scene of the maid doing her chores seems so peaceful to me.