A Mother with Two Children and a Maid with a Pail by a Fireplace is a 1680 Genre Painting by Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch, produced during the Dutch Golden Age.
In this homely scene, a mother suckles her baby, just as another child cradles a cat by the fireside. The maid returns having fetched a bucket of water. The subtle light effects of the interior contrast with the flood of daylight seen through the doorway in the background. Two dogs are at play in the left foreground. All is peace and contentment.
Pieter de Hooch’s A Mother with Two Children and a Maid with a Pail by a Fireplace is in a Private Collection.