Let me preface this musing with the statement that I know very little about art, art history, Rembrandt, Dutch social history of the 17th century, or most related issues.
I do, however, know that dead chickens and fashion don’t usually mix.
Two of my parental units visited the Rijksmuseum this summer and saw The Night Watch, which inspired a recent discussion about the painting’s history, size and purpose. I pulled up the digital version on the museum’s website so that we could examine the details. The page was still up on my phone when I opened my browser today, and I decided to zoom in on the strangest element in the picture: a well-dressed woman in the midst of a group of heavily armed and armored men, her figure, clothing and purse, all glowing as if under a spotlight.
I take that back. She wasn’t the strangest thing about this picture. The strangest thing was that the aforementioned well-dressed woman was wearing… a chicken?
One thing I love about the move to digitize many museum holdings is that you can see details not usually visible, unless you are viewing the art in person. Using the Rijksmuseum’s Rijksstudio, I was able to zoom in on the subject in question and inspect her unusual accessory. Here it is:
That inspired this exchange with my father:
Again, I know very little about art history and am probably wrong about every single bit of this. I am having fun speculating on the importance of that well-dressed woman, her prominently featured silk purse, and of course, her chicken.
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J.R. Johnson 
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