About the Work
Jan Frederik Schierecke specialized in copying paintings in private collections on commission from other collectors. The original by Gerard (or Gerrit) Dou, a pupil of Rembrandt’s, is today on view in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Schiericke employed the possibilities offered him by the watercolour medium to represent surface textures such as those of the precious pitcher on the table, the curtain and the marble wine cooler. He and his contemporaries may not have been aware that the open bird cage symbolized the loss of virginity.