HONTHORST, Gerrit van
(b. 1590, Utrecht, d. 1656, Utrecht)

The Procuress

1625
Oil on panel, 71 x 104 cm
Centraal Museum, Utrecht

The procuress happily points to a the smart young man, a possible customer who quite visibly holds his purse in his left hand. With his other hand he gestures towards the girl's lute, while the girl, too, her décolletage roguishly displayed in the candlelight, points towards her instrument. The strong emphasis laid on the lute suggests that the instrument here has the more vulgar, and very common, significance of vagina. (The Dutch word 'luit' can mean either. Under an elegant veil, the painting thus illustrates - and by implication condemns - illicit love.

This painting is an excellent example of Van Honthorst's familiar device: placing a silhouetted figure in the foreground.