Jacob Maris painted Girl Knitting on a Balcony in Montmartre in 1869, when he was about 32 and living in Paris. The oil on canvas has a tall, narrow vertical format: 110.0 by 75.7 cm, with the signature and date 'J. Maris 1869' written in the lower left. Today the painting is in the collection of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in The Hague, Netherlands, and it shows a young girl in profile, knitting beside a wooden birdcage on a balcony overlooking Montmartre, in muted browns, reds and greys.

What the picture shows

A young girl stands in profile facing left, leaning against a wooden balcony post on the right. She wears a long dark brown dress with a loose jacket and a dark green shawl or apron at the waist, white stockings and low brown slippers. Her brown hair is held by a dark blue band with small pink flowers, and a small gold earring is visible. She holds knitting needles at chest height. A reddish-brown wooden balustrade with turned balusters runs across the lower half of the picture. On the left, a small round table on the railing holds a wooden birdcage with a dark bird inside. A straw hat with a sprig of pink flowers lies on the stone floor at lower right. Behind the balcony, a bare tree with pink blossom stands on the left, with gardens, scattered white houses and a small walking figure in the middle distance. The sky is pale grey-beige and overcast, and the palette stays within muted browns, reds and greys.

When and why it was painted

Jacob Maris was born in The Hague in 1837 and was about 32 years old when he painted this picture in 1869. He had moved to Paris in 1865 and stayed there until 1871. Montmartre was then a partly rural district on the northern edge of the city, with gardens and small houses visible in the background here. Maris shared the Hague School's preference for quiet, everyday subjects and restrained colour, seen in the browns, reds and greys of this balcony scene. The work belongs to his Paris years, before he returned to the Netherlands and became known for Dutch landscapes and city views.

Seeing it at home: Girl Knitting on a Balcony in Montmartre by Jacob Maris

A hand-painted copy of Girl Knitting on a Balcony in Montmartre works best at or near the original size, 110.0 by 75.7 cm, because the tall narrow format loses its balance when reduced too much. Look for even brushwork in the pale grey-beige sky, careful drawing of the turned balusters, and the muted brown, green and pink accents that keep the palette restrained.