The Flea Hunt
by HONTHORST, Gerrit van, Oil on canvas, 110 x 90 cm
Honthorst introduced the theme of the flea hunt into Netherlandish painting. As with so many of Honthorst’s genre scenes, an allusion to promiscuity and general playfulness is used, though here it is more directly referenced through the use of the flea hunt theme. From antiquity, the flea has been used as a symbol for sex owing to its proclivity to sucking blood from its targets.