Woman Playing the Cittern

Jan Steen is remembered for packed, noisy rooms, and here he leaves the room empty. A single woman sits against bare walls, plucking a cittern, the small wire-strung instrument heard in many Dutch homes, and looks straight at us. With nothing else in the picture to look at, there is no escaping her gaze.

The Mauritshuis points to one odd detail. Steen gives her a black headscarf, the kind of covering you would expect on an old woman, and sets it around a young face with an intent, direct look. The two signals pull against each other, and it is hard to say what she wants from the viewer.

The panel is small, 31 by 27.5 centimetres. It belonged to the collector Frits Lugt in 1919, hung in the museum on loan from that year, and was bought in 1928 with help from private donors.