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Lot Essay
Pieter de Hooch was one of the most accomplished painters of domestic genre scenes in the Dutch Golden Age. Few artists rivalled his subtle response to the expressive effects of light or his successful definition of complex spatial arrangements, often with views through a doorway or window. Among de Hooch’s most innovative contributions to depictions of domestic subjects was his celebration of domesticity and the manifold contributions of women, which gave visual expression to the centrality of the home in Dutch society.
In this painting, two young women – one standing with an empty basket about to depart for the market, the other crouching to tend a fire – are viewed within a dimly lit interior. A small dog bounds across the stone floors as if attempting to get the attention of the standing woman. The brightly lit voorhuis, or entryway, is beyond, its open doorway framing the view of a tree-lined canal and the upper façades of the houses across the way, each silhouetted against a hazy late afternoon sky. The artist’s lifelong fascination with the geometry of domestic interiors, evident in the tilework and receding rectangular windowpanes and doorways, creates a convincing recession into depth. This, in turn, is reinforced by the intelligent use of light, color and perspective, in which the composition progressively unfolds into ever-brighter spaces. This volumetric sense of space is enhanced by the pinkish-red top of the kneeling woman, which is mirrored by the standing woman’s shoes, the front curtain and the distant rooftops.
When the painting appeared at the Meffre sale in 1863, its date was read as ‘1656’, which was relayed in all subsequent publications and sales catalogues until Cornelis Hofstede de Groot rightly noted that it was ‘certainly later’ (op. cit., p. 488). Despite sharing much of the understated sobriety of de Hooch’s early domestic scenes painted in Delft before he relocated to Amsterdam in or before April 1661, the painting is undoubtedly a late work datable to the 1680s. While the final digit is difficult to decipher, the painting appears to be dated ‘1686’. This would have significant bearing on our understanding of the final years of the artist’s life.
While it was long believed that de Hooch died in 1684 in the Amsterdam Dolhuis, or insane asylum, it is now known that the individual of that name who passed away that year was the artist’s son, Pieter Pietersz. de Hooch. While the elder de Hooch is last recorded in a document of 1679 registering his son in the Dolhuis, he is known by at least one, and possibly as many as three, paintings dated 1684 (see Sutton, op. cit., 1980, nos. 161-163). If the date on this painting is accurately read as ‘1686’, then de Hooch must have been alive for at least two years longer than was previously recognized. As de Hooch’s last known extant work, this picture would serve as a reminder that the artist was capable of producing paintings of excellent quality even at the very end of his illustrious career.
In this painting, two young women – one standing with an empty basket about to depart for the market, the other crouching to tend a fire – are viewed within a dimly lit interior. A small dog bounds across the stone floors as if attempting to get the attention of the standing woman. The brightly lit voorhuis, or entryway, is beyond, its open doorway framing the view of a tree-lined canal and the upper façades of the houses across the way, each silhouetted against a hazy late afternoon sky. The artist’s lifelong fascination with the geometry of domestic interiors, evident in the tilework and receding rectangular windowpanes and doorways, creates a convincing recession into depth. This, in turn, is reinforced by the intelligent use of light, color and perspective, in which the composition progressively unfolds into ever-brighter spaces. This volumetric sense of space is enhanced by the pinkish-red top of the kneeling woman, which is mirrored by the standing woman’s shoes, the front curtain and the distant rooftops.
When the painting appeared at the Meffre sale in 1863, its date was read as ‘1656’, which was relayed in all subsequent publications and sales catalogues until Cornelis Hofstede de Groot rightly noted that it was ‘certainly later’ (op. cit., p. 488). Despite sharing much of the understated sobriety of de Hooch’s early domestic scenes painted in Delft before he relocated to Amsterdam in or before April 1661, the painting is undoubtedly a late work datable to the 1680s. While the final digit is difficult to decipher, the painting appears to be dated ‘1686’. This would have significant bearing on our understanding of the final years of the artist’s life.
While it was long believed that de Hooch died in 1684 in the Amsterdam Dolhuis, or insane asylum, it is now known that the individual of that name who passed away that year was the artist’s son, Pieter Pietersz. de Hooch. While the elder de Hooch is last recorded in a document of 1679 registering his son in the Dolhuis, he is known by at least one, and possibly as many as three, paintings dated 1684 (see Sutton, op. cit., 1980, nos. 161-163). If the date on this painting is accurately read as ‘1686’, then de Hooch must have been alive for at least two years longer than was previously recognized. As de Hooch’s last known extant work, this picture would serve as a reminder that the artist was capable of producing paintings of excellent quality even at the very end of his illustrious career.