Dutch School, circa 1700

Panel is uncradled and bevelled on all four sides. it is flat and stable. the paint surface is under a slightly dirty varnish. overall there is excellent preservation of the paint surface with lovely detail throughout. the varnish fluoresces unevenly under UV light; there are some small dots of retouching here and there. the figure of the girl looks good with only a small retouch on her neck. painting would benefit from a light cleaning and fresh varnish. In a brown wood frame with gilt inner rim.
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The composition of this painting is based on a work by Frans van Mieris the Elder, of which there are numerous copies and variants.¹  The painter of the present work has set the viewpoint further back and has elaborated on the composition by adding an extensive landscape at middle right and an additional still life of cabbages and artichokes in the lower right foreground.  One of the other versions, in the collection of the Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel, bears the signature of Gerrit Dou, suggesting that Dou, who was van Mieris’s teacher, may have been the originator of the subject.

1.  See O. Naumann, Frans van Mieris the Elder, Doornspijk 1981, Vol. II, pp. 11-13, cat. no. 7, reproduced plate 7.