The Procuress
by HONTHORST, Gerrit van, Oil on panel, 71 x 104 cm
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 d�colletage 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.