''The Matchmaker'' or ''The Procuress'' is an oil on panel painting by Dutch artist

Gerard van Honthorst Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch: ''Gerrit van Honthorst''; 4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickn ...

, created in 1625, now in the

Centraal Museum The Centraal Museum is the main museum in Utrecht (city), Utrecht, Netherlands, founded in 1838. The museum has a wide-ranging collection, mainly of works produced locally. The collection of the paintings by the Northern Mannerist Joachim Wte ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

, for which it was bought in 1951 by the Vereniging Rembrandt.

History and description

Van Honthorst was part of the Utrecht Caravaggisti School. From 1610 to 1620 he stayed in Italy, where he specialized in nocturnal paintings with pronounced

chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...

, which earned him the nickname Gerardo delle Notti. 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. Din Pieters, et al.: Het Nederlandse Kunst Boek. W-books, Zwolle, 2016, blz. 63. A similarly themed painting was made by a colleague of Van Honthorst,

Dirck van Baburen Dirck Jaspersz. van Baburen ( – 21 February 1624) was a Dutch people, Dutch Painting, painter and one of the Utrecht School, Utrecht Caravaggisti. Biography Dirck van Baburen was probably born in Wijk bij Duurstede, but his family moved to ...

. The model for the young woman also appears in other paintings by Van Honthorst.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matchmaker, The Paintings in the Centraal Museum 1625 paintings Paintings by Gerard van Honthorst Prostitution in paintings Genre paintings Paintings of women