pride in a proud pet

thanks wikimedia commons {PD:US}

This rooster is splendid and he knows it.  His human, a young girl in what is no doubt her simple best, knows it too.  In her plain but crisp green and white dress, which becomes her as a young maiden, she provides the perfect backdrop to the razzle-dazzle of her fancy-feathered pet.  Also, look at her modest expression: she is happy in the sheer joy of her rooster, while he has all the prime rooster arrogance in how he sizes us up.  This Girl with a Rooster is, I think, a take on the male vs. female principle in a most likable way, painted circa 1650 by the Dutch portrait and landscape master Jacob Gerritszoon Cuyp.