Maids in the kitchen—sexy and ready to serve
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Maids in the kitchen—sexy and ready to serve
Imagine yourself being a kitchen maid in 17th-century Holland—serving a wealthy household, in an enormous mansion, working for hypocritical high-class men, witnessing the most luxurious games between men and women. What would be your teenaged mind? Love? Lust? Or loneliness?
Vermeer’s Masterpiece The Milkmaid was the only exhibition in the Met that I’d visited twice. Aside from celebrating Vermeer’s extraordinary contribution to Baroque art and his technique of manipulating light and shadow, this exhibition, interestingly, focused in one theme—The Milkmaid. Walking in a room filled with images of these young women in the 17th century, I felt as if I were taking a tour in a Baroque mansion, peeking into the private lives of these maids, exploring their psychological and physical advantages and disadvantages in such environment.
The word “maid,” short for “maidservant,” or “virgin,” has always had a sexual connotation to it. From lady-in-waiting in mythologies to Queen Anne Boleyn in England to the sexy maids in porn nowadays—Why do servants have to be maidens? Who are they serving? Whom are the ladies-in-waiting waiting for?
This sexual theme is subtly presented in the arts in the Baroque period, through the use of hidden symbolism. In The Milkmaid, the young woman is pouring milk, a symbol of motherhood and fertility, into a bowl, lost in her own thoughts. What is she daydreaming about? We have way of knowing. However, the background gives us a clue. Next to the foot warmer on the floor, was a Cupid design, hints the romantic content of her thoughts. She’s possible dreaming about her Prince Charming, her master, or secret lover. The foot warmer itself, is a sign of a woman’s body warmth, with a subtle sexual message to it. The sunlight, penetrating the window shield, hits her beautiful forehead and her breast, also suggests love and affection. All these little details open up more space for imagination.
Another painting of Vermeer, A Maid Asleep, has a clearer hint. Red dominates the whole scene creating a romantic atmosphere. A maid, in her mid-twenties is taking a nap, leaning on the table, with a sweet smile on her face. Light shines through from the room in the background and, according to the audio guide, possibly casts a shadow of a male master in the room. In the foreground, a portion of a drawing hanged on the wall, clearly shows Cupid’s feet, dancing and jumping. What is the dream that involve a maid, a master, and Cupid, dancing and jumping?
According to the audio guide, paintings of maids in Netherland usually had a romantic and erotic content to them. “In Dutch, to milk is translated to be ‘melken’, also means to attract and to lure,” said Tom Campbell, the director of the museum. Vermeer is known for his skillful techniques and sophisticated styles. The sexual messages are rather implicit, not as obviously stated as in his Dutch colleagues’ paintings.
In the exhibition, there are also paintings of the same theme from Vermeer’s contemporaries that might either inspire him or model after him. In Gabriël Metsu’s A Woman Seated At the Window, the maid is sitting at the window, staring at the audience and holding an apple in her hand. The apple, as we all know, is a symbol of temptation and lost of innocence. The same motif echoes itself in A Young Woman Peeling Apple by Nicolaes Maes. I somehow found this girl very attractive. Peeling the apple’s skin off to show its true color parallels the girl’s display of innate desire.
To better convey the reputation for amorous predisposition of the maids, at the end of the exhibition, hanging on the wall is a huge painting, The Kitchen Scene by Peter Wtewael. It’s a very typical Baroque painting—extravagant and over-the-top. The usage of clear brushstrokes and bright colors gives it a very dynamic rhythm. Wtewael inherited the traditional Flemish style of depicting details and illusion in space. The audience can almost hear the maid and the servant flirting and giggling. The symbols are quite obvious as well. The dangling bird and the chicken jammed onto a spit refer to male and female anatomy. Moreover, the maid is penetrating the chicken with a skewer, modeling sexual intercourse. On the other hand, the male servant is responding actively. He’s holding a basket of eggs, a symbol of fertility. Look at his left hand—he’s holding an open jug, with his middle finger stuck out—clearly a symbol of sexual invitation.
Nowadays, sex and gender role is a topic for public discussion, available online, in school, and even on the dinner table. But back in the 17th Century, it was a topic considered inappropriate to mention in public, especially the unlawful romance or scandal between lower-class maids and their masters. Baroque artists, through their use of hidden symbols and vivid facial expression depicted the amorous life of the young women in the kitchen—fresh and ready to serve.
