Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, public domain
Hi res image: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436209
Life in 17th-century New Amsterdam did not stop at sundown, but continued at night, by candlelight. This delightful night piece or “nachtstukje” – a popular genre in Dutch art of the period– shows how children gather around the table to practice reading and writing.
Metropolitan Museum summary: This small night scene extols the virtues of teaching (light passed on) and practice (the sharpened pen), which the much-admired Aristotle recommended as paths to knowledge. The subject would have appealed to many in Dou’s city of Leiden, home of a famous university.
Reference:
Title Painting: An Evening School
Artist: Gerrit Dou (Dutch, Leiden 1613–1675 Leiden)
Date: ca. 1655–57
Medium: Oil on wood
Dimensions: Arched top, 10 x 9 in. (25.4 x 22.9 cm)
Classification: Paintings