Paying the Hostess

The subject of a disputed reckoning is not common in Dutch art, but is found in one of De Hooch’s Delft pictures, dated 1658, and in travelers’ diaries of the time. In this mature work of the artist’s Amsterdam years, the pretty hostess of a country inn explains her method of accounting to a modishly attired customer. The seemingly flirtatious couple is surrounded by skillfully diversified effects of light.