The Reader
Eglon van der Neer
- Institution
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
- Accession
- 32.100.9
- Credit
- The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931
- Rights
Public domain: the artist died in 1703. The Metropolitan Museum of Art releases this image under CC0 through its Open Access programme.
- Description
- A young woman in a white headscarf and dark jacket sits on a red chair at a table, one hand resting on a large open book; an inkstand with a quill and a candlestick stand beside it against a dark panelled wall.
- Image
- 1185 × 1600
source file retrieved 2026-10-11 - Catalogue no.
- G-009039
coldlibrary.com/g/009039 - Credit line
- Eglon van der Neer, The Reader, second half of the 17th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain (CC0). Via Cold Library: https://coldlibrary.com/g/009039
Eglon van der Neer was the son of Aert van der Neer, whose moonlit river also hangs on this wall, and he chose the opposite subject: polished interiors and quiet figures. The reader has looked up from her book, as if someone had just come in. It is a small painting about being interrupted kindly.
