A Young Woman Warming her Hands over a Brazier: Allegory of Winter
Photo: Rijksmuseum

A Young Woman Warming her Hands over a Brazier: Allegory of Winter

May 24, 2023
Title
A Young Woman Warming her Hands over a Brazier: Allegory of Winter
Author
Caesar Boëtius van Everdingen
Published Date
about 1644 -about 1648

The young woman in this painting warming herself by placing her hand over a burning coal is a personification of winter.Winter is generally personified as a "poor old man.The reason for "poor" is that in winter there is no harvest of grain, and the reason for "old" is that in Europe winter is the end of the year.However, this painting personifies "winter" as a "young woman.The "winter" in this painting is warm and gentle.Thank you for reading to the end.

References

This article is based on the text and audio commentary on the Rijksmuseum website.
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