Woman Bather combing her Hair
Gerrit Dou·1665
Historical Context
Woman Bather Combing Her Hair from 1665 shows Dou treating the female nude — a subject unusual in his generally domestic output — within the safely respectable frame of a toilette scene. The woman combing her hair at her bath had classical precedents in representations of Venus at her toilet, and Dou's treatment maintains Dutch bourgeois decorum while exploring the textures and surfaces of a more intimate subject than his usual genre pieces.
Technical Analysis
The woman is shown in a partially undressed state at her toilette, her form carefully lit against the dimly rendered interior. Dou's fijnschilder technique renders skin, water, and fabrics with equal obsessive precision, and the composition is organized around the contrast between the luminous figure and the surrounding shadow.
