Man Reading a Letter to a Woman
by HOOCH, Pieter de, Oil on canvas, 77 x 70 cm
Pieter de Hooch moved to Amsterdam in 1661. While he had previously painted mostly working-class interiors, he from then on increasingly represented more affluent settings. Floors of wood and brick were replaced with marble tiles in which De Hooch creatively varied the patterns. The soldiers, maidservants and tavern frequenters gave way to ever more sumptuously attired and elegant figures. The present work fits in the painter’s Amsterdam period.