I once had the opportunity to see this painting in a museum, and must say that a photo hardly does justice to it. I was blown away. Of course, there is the mastery of Van Honthorst, but it’s also the size of it (71 cm × 104 cm) and the POV, as if you are the man who is about to spend some time with this mesmerizing young woman.
Background
The Matchmaker or The Procuress is an oil on panel painting by Dutch artist Gerard van Honthorst, created in 1625.
The painting presents a young woman with a provocative neckline and a seductive smile; she is accompanied by a man who carries a purse in his hand and an old woman. All of them are in a shallow space. The light from the candle on the table accentuates the young woman’s cleavage and her colorful and feathered clothes. On the left, an old matchmaker, with a tooth protruding from her closed mouth, keeps an eye on what is happening. The lute, in this situation, refers to an object of prostitutes and therefore has an erotic meaning. The lute is also a symbol for female genitalia and lust. The painting abounds in contrasts, not only between light and darkness, but also between youth and old age. One end of the young woman’s right nipple is barely noticeable.
Great stuff! Totally agree that seeing great art in a gallery is a whole different experience to squinting at it on a screen (except Mona Lisa of course, that was a big let down).
Thanks for sharing! But I think you meant to link to the painting, not the play.
You’re right. There seems to be something odd with the link as yours has the same problem.
Apologies, I didn’t realize that. When I follow the link from a browser it works properly (as does your original link), but not from the app. I want to say it’s the parenthesis in the link but I tried using the % encoding and no dice.
![[Soft] The matchmaker](https://i.imgur.com/rbXPEPk.jpg){kind=link}