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 English Wikipedia page names the 14th of March as his date of birth, but the German one says the 16th of March. 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.