A Woman holding a Mirror
- Artist: Pieter Codde
- Date: 1625
- Medium: oil on wood
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is the "A Woman holding a Mirror" painted in the Dutch north by Pieter Codde. Painted in 1625, it's his earliest known work and a great example of his genre scenes of everyday life. The painting shows an attractive and well-dressed woman checking her appearance in a mirror. She looks out at us as if to seek our approval for her choice.
As you look around the room, notice how Codde has added little distractions for the eye. There's a flash of red from her gown's lining, a cat by her feet staring at an unsuspecting mouse, and paintings on the wall that are pictures within the picture. It's like we're right there with her as she goes about her daily routine.
Codde was also known to be a close observer of human life, and his paintings often show him setting his figures in simple domestic scenes. This painting is calm and reflective, and it's just the sort of scene that would have been familiar to Codde's buyers back in 1625.
See it in person
A Woman holding a Mirror hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
