Why it matters
A soldier fondles a young woman's breast while dropping a coin into her hand, watched by a leering procuress. It is Vermeer's first genre painting, and the man in a black beret on the left may be a self-portrait.
Did you know?
- Vermeer painted it in 1656, aged 24.
- It is one of only three paintings he signed and dated.
- A painting of the same subject by Dirck van Baburen hung in the home of his mother-in-law, Maria Thins.
Based on the Wikipedia article The Procuress (Vermeer) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
