''The Procuress'' is the name given to a number of similar paintings by the Dutch Golden Age painter

Dirck van Baburen Dirck Jaspersz. van Baburen (c. 1595 – 21 February 1624) was a Dutch painter and one of the Utrecht Caravaggisti. Biography Dirck van Baburen was probably born in Wijk bij Duurstede, but his family moved to Utrecht when he was still youn ...

. The painting is in the Caravaggiesque style of the

Utrecht school Utrecht Caravaggism ( nl, Utrechtse caravaggisten) refers to the work of a group of artists who were from, or had studied in, the Dutch city of Utrecht, and during their stay in Rome during the early seventeenth century had become distinctly infl ...

Description

The painting shows three figures: a prostitute on the left, the client in the middle and the procuress on the right pointing to her palm to indicate that she is expecting payment. The client is holding a coin between his fingers as he puts his arm around the prostitute, who is playing a lute. The painting is an example of the popular genre known as ''Bordeeltjes'', or brothel scenes (see also the overlapping genre of Merry company scenes). The cropped, close-up figures close to the

picture plane In painting, photography, graphical perspective and descriptive geometry, a picture plane is an image plane located between the "eye point" (or '' oculus'') and the object being viewed and is usually coextensive to the material surface of the w ...

against a flat blank background are typical of Utrecht Caravaggism. There are at least three versions of the painting. The versions in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston are attributed to

or his studio. One copy of the painting was owned by

Maria Thins Maria Thins (c. 1593 – 27 December 1680) was the mother-in-law of Johannes Vermeer and a member of the Gouda Thins family. Life Maria was born in Gouda. In 1622 she married Reynier Bolnes, a prominent and prosperous brickmaker. In 1635 the ma ...

, mother-in-law of

Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...

, who reproduced it in the background of two of his own paintings. A copy owned by the

Courtauld Institute The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

in London has been identified as the work of the forger

Han van Meegeren Henricus Antonius "Han" van Meegeren (; 10 October 1889 – 30 December 1947) was a Dutch painter and portraitist, considered one of the most ingenious art forgers of the 20th century. Van Meegeren became a national hero after World War II when ...

. This was featured in the third episode of the BBC TV series, ''

Fake or Fortune? ''Fake or Fortune?'' is a BBC One documentary television series which examines the provenance and attribution of notable artworks. Since the first series aired in 2011, ''Fake or Fortune?'' has drawn audiences of up to 5 million viewers in t ...

''.

Vermeer

One of these paintings was owned by

Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...

's mother-in-law, and it may have been an influence on one of his own early paintings on a similar subject, also known as '' The Procuress'' (1656).John Michael Montias, ''Vermeer and His Milieu: A Web of Social History'', Princeton University Press, 1991, p.146. It also appears in the background of two of Vermeer's later paintings, '' The Concert'' (c.1664) and '' Lady Seated at a Virginal'' (c.1670). In both of these later paintings the blatant lust depicted by Baburen is contrasted with the genteel, but erotically charged, middle-class world occupied by Vermeer's women. The contrast between the images may also imply "a more general association between music and love". Vermeer sets up a series of contrasts between his own delicate, restrained style and Baburen's vulgar realism. According to Michael Wayne Cole and Mary Pardo this represents Vermeer's own move away from such low-life subjects. The older, cruder style of Baburen is relegated to the background, "eclipsing it with the more modern kind of genteel subject that Vermeer would soon paint exclusively".

The Courtauld Institute version

The_Procuress_forgery_by_Han_van_Meegeren_from_the_Courtauld_Gallery

In 1960, Geoffrey Webb presented a version of the painting to the Courtauld Institute. At the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, he had been an allied officer in Europe investigating art works looted by the Nazis. He believed it was a fake painted by

, and he presented it to the Courtauld as such. In his own defense, van Meegeren claimed that the painting had been bought in an antique shop by his wife. Although the painting was initially believed to be a fake, its authenticity remained controversial, and in 2009 a scientific study indicated that the painting was likely to be genuine, as no modern pigments were found. A spokesperson for the gallery stated that they were "surprised" by the results, but that the evidence indicated that it was "likely to be a 17th-century painting". Following this, the BBC TV programme ''Fake or Fortune?'' conducted a further investigation. The resulting film was first shown July 2011. Philip Mould and

Fiona Bruce Fiona Elizabeth Bruce (born 25 April 1964) is a British journalist, newsreader, and television presenter. She joined the BBC as a researcher for '' Panorama'' in 1989, and has since become the first female newsreader on the ''BBC News at Ten' ...

traveled to Amsterdam where they obtained samples of the paints used by van Meegeren. These included an artificial resin which turned out to be Bakelite. The use of Bakelite had the effect of hardening the paint and thus making it difficult to detect that it was new. Chemical analysis showed Bakelite in the Courtauld painting, thus confirming that it was a modern forgery. Van Meegeren is the only forger known to have used this technique, so the painting was attributed to him. It was probably intended to be used as a prop in Vermeer forgeries. Ironically, it is now more valuable as a van Meegeren forgery than as a 17th-century studio copy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Procuress, The 1620s paintings Paintings by Dirck van Baburen Fake or Fortune? Musical instruments in art Prostitution in paintings Paintings in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Description

Vermeer

The Courtauld Institute version

See also

References

External links