# The Procuress [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [HONTHORST, Gerrit van]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on panel, 71 x 104 cm ## Commentary The procuress happily points to a the smart young man, a possible customer who quite visibly holds his purse in his left hand. With his other hand he gestures towards the girl's lute, while the girl, too, her décolletage roguishly displayed in the candlelight, points towards her instrument. The strong emphasis laid on the lute suggests that the instrument here has the more vulgar, and very common, significance of vagina. \(The Dutch word 'luit' can mean either. Under an elegant veil, the painting thus illustrates - and by implication condemns - illicit love. This painting is an excellent example of Van Honthorst's familiar device: placing a silhouetted figure in the foreground. ## Related artworks - [A Merry Group behind a Balustrade \(detail\)]() - [A Merry Group behind a Balustrade]() - [Adoration of the Child]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Childhood of Christ]() - [Christ before the High Priest \(detail\)]() - [Christ before the High Priest]() - [Concert on a Balcony]() - [Convival Fellow]() - [Frederick Hendrick, Prince of Orange, with His Wife Amalia van Solms and Their Three Youngest Daughters]() - [Granida and Daifilo]() - [Lute Player]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()