Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/556

 532 PIETER DE HOOCH SECT. In the possession of the dealer Lesser, of London, in 1889. Afterwards in the collection of Sir Charles Robinson in London. In the catalogue of 300 paintings belonging to the dealer C. Sedelmeyer, of Paris, 1898, No. 71. Now in the collection of Rodman Wanamaker in Philadelphia. 198. LADY READING IN A ROOM. De G. 84. A young woman, in a light red jacket and a white silk skirt, sits on a chair with a little dog in her lap reading a paper. A lute lies on a table beside her, and an open music-book is under the table. A young man in blue stands in the sunshine to the left, leaning his elbow on the window-sill and looking out. He holds a large wine-glass in his right hand and his black hat in his left. At the back in shadow is a servant-girl. An open door on the right looks upon a large house, illumined by sunshine. It is a dark, late, and unattractive work. Transferred from canvas to panel in 1866 ; 22 J inches by 19 inches. Formerly in the collection of Queen Louisa Ulrica of Sweden, consort of King Adolphus Frederick (1751-71). Now in the National Museum at Stockholm, No. 471 in the 1900 catalogue. 199. GOING FOR A WALK. De G. 86. In a vestibule decorated after the pseudo-antique style of the late Renaissance a couple are walking to the right. The gentleman wears a tall, broad-brimmed hat with red and white feathers, and has a red cloak embroidered with gold over his white silk jacket. The lady, seen in profile, has round her head a black veil partly concealing her gold-embroidered bodice, and with her right hand lifts up her yellow skirt. In front of them, to the right, is a dog. Behind them, between the columns to the left, comes a nurse with a little girl. The floor is paved with tiles, which are laid in circles in the foreground and in a square pattern farther back. The hall is surrounded by columns on the left and by pilasters on the right. By the wall at the back is a nude statue, between two arched doorways ; the left- hand door is open and looks into another room, the lighting of which is apparently wrong. In this room is a high window, with a table under it and a chair to the right ; the floor is paved with square tiles. At the back, by the entrance to the room beyond, there was originally the figure of another man, which has been painted out ; the dog also has been repainted in a different way. The colouring of the principal figures is harmonious, but in the figure of the nurse the purple tones characteristic of the late period are obvious. The curtain, the table-cloth, and the chair-cushion in the back room are vermilion. The cloth over the chest is a dull green. The brushwork even in the background is quite in the manner of P. de Hooch. The picture might well be taken as a typical Janssens, but it is unquestionably a genuine de Hooch, dating from the commencement of the Amsterdam period. The signature is false ; canvas, 28| inches by 34 inches. Mentioned byWaagen (iii. p. 222), and by Burger, Tresors d* Art en Angleterre, 1852 (p. 317).