Interior with a Woman Feeding a Parrot, Known as ‘The Parrot Cage’
Jan Havicksz. Steen
c. 1660 - c. 1670
This scene bursts with life. On the left, a woman is frying oysters, while a mischievous boy tries to feed a cat. On the right, two men are playing a game of trictrac (a kind of backgammon). Through his use of colour, Steen directed attention to the woman in the middle giving a parrot a biscuit. Thanks to the light falling on her and her green and violet gown, she stands out against the other, more drably painted figures.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam · Image: Rijksmuseum, Public domain · Text: Rijksmuseum, CC0