A Boy with a Goose

Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp (1594–1652)

About 1650. Oil on wood

The most characteristic works of the Dutch 17th-century painter Jacob Cuyp from Dordrecht are genre portraits of children with domestic animals, which often have an allegorical undertone.

Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp created several twin paintings of children with domestic birds; internationally renowned versions of such paintings are on display at the Louvre in Paris.
Only one of the twin paintings of the Kadriorg Museum bears a signature: “A Boy with a Goose”. This lively depiction of a boy is one of Cuyp’s best portraits of children. The painting “A Girl with a Rooster” is most probably a studio production. Not just the stereotyped portrayal of the child but also the depiction of the rooster in the girl’s arms hint at studio authorship: the rooster is almost identical to the rooster in another painting by Cuyp and was evidently stencilled from one canvas to another. Does Cuyp’s signature mean that only one of the twin paintings was made by Cuyp, or was it enough in those days to sign only one of twin paintings?

A Girl with a Rooster

Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp. About 1650. Oil on wood

The most characteristic works of the Dutch 17th-century painter Jacob Cuyp from Dordrecht are genre portraits of children with domestic animals, which often have an allegorical undertone.

The painting “A Girl with a Rooster” is most probably a studio production. Not just the stereotyped portrayal of the child but also the depiction of the rooster in the girl’s arms hint at studio authorship: the rooster is almost identical to the rooster in another painting by Cuyp and was evidently stencilled from one canvas to another. Does Cuyp’s signature mean that only one of the twin paintings was made by Cuyp, or was it enough in those days to sign only one of twin paintings?