Lot 2046 Dα

Simon Kick depicts a popular subject of genre painting, a young woman at her toilette. She sits at a table with a mirror, and behind her stands a maid combing her long blonde hair. The interior is furnished with a few props - a large cupboard, a painting, a chair - just enough so as not to distract from the two protagonists, whose concentrated, quiet activity the artist captures with sure instinct.
The painting illustrates why Simon Kick was considered such a gifted figure draughtsman. Characteristic of his painting is the restrained, elegant colour palette, which is evident, for example, in the light blue fur-trimmed coat on the table or the grey-silver dress of the young woman. A comparable painting, also depicting a woman at the toilet with her maid, is today in the Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig (fig. 1; inv. no. 1036).
Simon Kick, born in Delft in 1603, was active in Amsterdam in the 1640s and 1650s. He was especially known for his depictions of officers and soldiers in guardrooms, a genre also cultivated by his brother-in-law Willem Duyster.