HOOCH, Pieter de
(b. 1629, Rotterdam, d. 1684, Amsterdam)

Soldiers Playing Cards

1657-58
Oil on panel, 51 x 46 cm
Private collection

This painting is related to Vermeer's Officer with a Laughing Girl. Some critics think that De Hooch's design is derived from Vermeer's picture, while others assume the opposite and see Vermeer as the debtor. However, the design is rather conventional and both painters may have drawn the idea from many sources.

The painting is signed left on the chair back: P.D.H.