老鸨

The only light in the room is a single candle on the table, and Honthorst has hidden its flame behind the old woman's hand so the glow rakes across the faces from below. He learned that trick in Italy, where he spent about ten years and picked up the nickname Gerardo delle Notti, Gerard of the nights, for scenes lit like this one. The setup is an old warning about paid love. A smiling young woman with a lute leans toward a well-dressed man while the procuress, the go-between, closes the deal, and his hand moves toward his purse. The lute was read as a sign of physical love, and Honthorst lets its shadow fall so the tangled hands of the couple are mirrored on the instrument's belly. He painted it in 1625, back home in Utrecht.