This intimate late-19th-century genre scene by Dutch-Belgian painter Evert Jan Boks (1838-1914) depicts a maid seated comfortably within a well-appointed domestic interior, caught in a private moment of indulgence. It belongs to a period when Boks was at the height of his popularity, exhibiting widely.
Reclining in an upholstered armchair, the maid holds a glass of red wine in one hand and a decadent biscuit in the other, her posture relaxed, quietly contented. A small tin rests in her lap, its contents clearly intended for polite company rather than private consumption. At her feet, a bottle lies discarded, evidence of a pleasure already well underway.
Behind her, half concealed by the open door, an older woman peers into the room. The moment is suspended, not yet confrontational - just the pause of being observed.
Boks constructs the scene with theatrical restraint. The foreground is warm and settled, the background darkens into watchfulness. Objects, executed finely, carry meaning - the upholstered chair, the wine, the biscuit - all markers of social boundaries.
Trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp and awarded both first prize and the Prix de Rome, Boks combined academic polish with acute social observation. Born into comfort and active within Antwerp’s artistic and social circles, he painted domestic life from within, not from a distance. His interiors are informed by familiarity rather than satire, shaped by lived experience.
This composition is known in more than one version, suggesting its popularity and success. Such repetition was common when a subject resonated strongly with audiences. Each variety displays subtle variations, reinforcing the sense that Boks understood precisely why the scene worked.
Paintings such as this were made to be lived with. Hung within grand households, they would have been seen daily by family and staff alike. For those upstairs, the scene offered wit and affectionate recognition; for those downstairs, it reflected familiar truths without humiliation. The painting belongs not to one class, but to the house itself - a shared mirror held gently before all who passed it.
Boks is represented in various public collections including at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.
Signed/dated and held in its original gilt frame.
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Medium: Oil on panel
Overall size: 25” x 30½” /64 cm x 78cm
Year of creation: 1874
Provenance: Private collection, France.
Condition: Cleaned. Areas of fine and settled craquelure, as you would expect. The paint layer is stable. Frame with various marks and showing its age.
Artist’s auction maximum: £32,200 for ‘Rira Bien Qui Rira Le Dernier (1877)’, Oil on panel, Christie’s, 19th Century Continental Pictures, Watercolours And Drawings, London, 21 November 1997 (lot 36).
Our reference: BRV2242
