The Seduction

1664 · Private collection

genre

In this painting, the elegant young woman standing at left assumes the role of the procuress: pointing insistently at her palm, she demands money from the young man seated before her. He, in turn, dutifully offers up a gold coin in payment. The second young woman, clad in a lustrous satin gown, is poised with pitcher and glass, ready to commence festivities the moment the transaction is completed.

About the Artist

Caspar Netscher

1639 – 1684

Dutch painter. Houbraken makes inconsistent statements about his birthplace, mentioning both Heidelberg and Prague, and there is similar doubt about his birthdate. Most of his career was spent in The Hague, where he settled in 1661/62, but he trained in Deventer with Terborch. From his master he took his predilection for depicting costly materials - particularly white satin. He painted genre scenes and some religious and mythological subjects, but from about 1670 he devoted himself almost exclusively to portraits, often for court circles in The Hague. His reputation was such that Charles II invited him to England. His work, elegant, Frenchified, small in scale, and exquisitely finished, influenced Dutch portraiture into the 18th century, his followers including his sons Constantijn and Theodor (1661-1732).

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