Kitchen Scene

"Kitchen Scene", also known as "The Mulatto Woman" or "The Cook", is one of two versions of this subject that Velázquez painted during his early years in Seville. Although the proposed dates vary, most specialists place its execution around 1620–1622. The picture shows a mulatto servant absorbed in her work in a kitchen, surrounded by earthenware vessels, a pot over the fire, a mortar and pestle, and a head of garlic. It belongs to the group of still lifes with figures that the painter cultivated in Seville, in which everyday objects take on an almost sculptural presence.

The Art Institute of Chicago version has a complicated attribution history. In 1927 it was presented as Velázquez's original, while the version in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, which revealed a religious scene in the background after a cleaning, was for a time considered a copy. Over the years the Dublin painting has regained its standing, and the badly damaged Chicago canvas is now regarded as possibly autograph, though the hand of one of the many copyists who reproduced the painter's genre scenes is not ruled out. After its restoration in 1999, the better-preserved areas were judged to be of a quality comparable to, and in some respects even higher than, the Dublin version.

Its technical interest lies in the handling of light and matter. The folds of the headcloth, the shadows of the crumpled paper in the foreground and the sheen of the crackled glaze on the glazed jug reveal a careful study of tactile values. Some scholars have suggested that Velázquez returned to this motif in order to outdo himself, leaving aside any religious meaning. Flemish prints have been proposed as a source, and the possible influence of Caravaggio on the young Sevillian painter, a debated question, remains part of the discussion.

Painter

Diego Velázquez

Date

1618

Medium

oil paint

Museum

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

Genre

genre art

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