Follower of Michiel van Musscher

The actual painting is softer in tone than the catalogue illustration suggests. The single panel is flat and stable, and slightly bevelled on all sides. There is a thin horizontal crack of approximately 3 cm. visible just above the lower right edge. A very thin scratch is visible centre left. There's one tiny dent to the background in the curtain, which has been retouched, and there are a few paint losses along the upper, lower and right edge, due to the frame. Otherwise, the painting seems to be in good condition. The paint surface is under a dirty layer of varnish as well as under a fine layer of dirt. Inspection under ultra violet light, though largely impeded by the dirty varnish layer, reveals no further retouching. Offered in a decorative carved gilt wood frame with a few chips to the lower left. (MW)
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Although clearly reminiscent of genre paintings done in the second half of the 17th Century, this work should be dated somewhat later, as the chair can be dated around 1700. The dress of the lady, however, is directly derived from costumes worn by ladies in early genre works by Gerard ter Borch (1617-1681), Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667) and his pupil Michiel van Musscher (1645-1705). Other motifs in this interior also refer to the 17th Century, such as the auricular frame with festoons of flowers on the wall, which can be dated circa 1655.¹

1.See P.J.J. van Thiel and C.J. de Bruyn Kops, Framing in the Golden Age. Picture and Frame in 17th-Century Holland, Zwolle, 1995, pp. 13, 212-215.