A Woman Peeling Apples (c. 1663) is a painting by Dutch MasterPieter de Hooch. Depicting what was possibly a typical domestic scene from the time, it is an example of genre painting. Its sensitive handling of light—in particular, natural light filtered into an otherwise unlit interior space—led 19th century art historians to attribute it to Jan Vermeer, with whose work the painting does bear strong similarities. However, Vermeer's work typically portrayed a woman working alone instead of a family scene as in A Woman Peeling Apples. Most scholars also now believe that de Hooch was influenced by Vermeer instead of Vermeer by de Hooch.
The painting is oil on canvas, 67cm x 55cm, and currently located at the Wallace Collection in London. It is also sometimes referred to in a longer form, A Woman Peeling Apples, with a Small Child.
This is seen in the full character of the figures in the WomanPeelingApples with its concentration on the motif close to the spectator without side views.
The painting recalls Vermeer's paintings of one or two figures in a lighted corner of a room, and is theme of a woman watched by a child as she works at a simple kitchen task is related to Maes's depictions of household activities.
Yet de Hooch's painting is unmistakably his own; his ability to suggest the intensity and flow of light is undiminished, and the relationship between the woman and child absorbed in their simple activities retains human charm and naturalness.
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