Paying the Hostess
by HOOCH, Pieter de, Oil on canvas, 71 x 64 cm
The subject of this painting is a disagreement about getting out the door without paying enough. The old soldier looks at the maidservant wearily; she holds up a coin and in no uncertain terms asks for another. Both figures appear to have performed this ritual many times before, and it must have been its routine occurrence that made the situation appealing as social comedy.