A Sleeping Courtesan

In 1669 the young Cosimo de' Medici, heir to the grand duchy of Tuscany, travelled through the Dutch Republic and went looking for the painters whose work he had heard praised, and van Mieris was near the top of his list. This panel dates from that very year. A woman has fallen asleep, a glass nearby, the scene hovering between a quiet domestic moment and something more knowing, which is how the Dutch liked their genre pictures to read. Cosimo carried works like this back to Florence, and that is why so much van Mieris now hangs in Italy rather than Holland. The wine glass beside her is painted with the same care as her face.