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This painting is one of Dou's eight self-portraits. He is depicted leaning on the window sill and holding his palette and brushes. His beret, his lace collar and his hand, which is resting on the window sill, are examples of exquisitely fine painting.
Dou introduced into Dutch genre painting in the mid-1640s the frame motif. The stone frame of the window in the foreground forms an optical barrier between the picture-space and the space of the beholder.
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