Old Woman Saying Grace, Known as ‘The Prayer without End’

An elderly woman bows her head in prayer before a simple meal of bread and herring on a covered table. Nicolaes Maes, the leading painter of the domestic interior after his teacher Rembrandt, finds solemn beauty in everyday piety — the still life of humble food, the quiet shadow falling across the wall, and the sense of unhurried devotion that gives the picture its popular nickname.