Samuel van Hoogstraten
A pupil of Rembrandt and contemporary of Vermeer, Samuel Van Hoogstraten was one of the major artists of the golden age of Dutch painting. The beautiful painting we present today is attributed to him.
Born of the painter's particular interest in space construction, this work is typical of Dutch genre painting in that it depicts an interior scene, yet the absence of human figures makes it highly atypical. This lack of human figure was awkward to one of its owners in the 19th century; the Belgian painter Florent Willems added a little girl there, but it was later removed during restoration.
From the foreground to the background we can see a broom, slippers, keys, a candle, and a painting within a painting. As the eye moves around this silent space, the objects seemingly take on new significance drawing the viewer into the scene. Hoogstraten is best remembered for his experiments in perspective and he uses a bit of his magic in this painting.