A young woman offering wine to an officer in an interior

The original, on panel, formerly signed and dated 1658, 42.8 x 33.3 cm, is in the Mauritshuis, The Hague, since 1960, deriving from the collection Mannheimer, Amsterdam (O.Naumann, Frans van Mieris the Elder, 1981, I, pp.104-108; II, pp.26-27, n^o23, with ill.). In contrast to the original, the copy does not show the two copulating dogs in the background. By then one dog was already overpainted for the sake of decency. During a recent restoration the overpaint is removed and both dogs have been become visible again. Naumann (op.cit., II, p.27) lists three further copies: one in the National Gallery in Prague, one in Schloss Altstadt, Kassel, and one in a private collection in Winschoten.