(Rotterdam 1629–1684 Amsterdam)
Interior with a woman and child with a maid sweeping the yard, signed lower left: PDHooch, oil on panel, 59.7 x 47 cm, framed,

Provenance: (probably) J. Danser Nijman, Amsterdam auction, 16.08.1797, lot 115; (probably) H. ten Kate, Amsterdam auction, 10.06. 1801, lot 89 (for 21 florins to Josy); Countess of Chichester et. al. (Marquess of Dufferin and Ava), London auction, 22.02.1929, lot 81; Galerie Douwes, Amsterdam (1934), Galerie Duits (1944); Galerie Hallsborough, London (1950); coll. A. D. and W. C. Williams (1951); gift to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/VA; sold on in October 2008.

Literature: (probably) C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, vol. I, Esslingen/Paris 1907, no. 300; P. Sutton, Pieter de Hooch, Oxford 1980, p. 78/79, see no. 18 (as a ‘variant copy’).

We are grateful to Drs Fred Meijer of the RKD, The Hague, who has seen the painting in the original, for his confirmation of its authenticity as a work by Pieter de Hooch. He dates it to 1655/56 and compares it with a painting by de Hooch in the Louvre, Paris, ‘A woman washing vegetables’. The present painting has been correctly considered for a long time to be an authentic work by Pieter de Hooch. Later overpainting veiled its quality and led to it being listed in the catalogue raisonné as a copy. It was for this reason that the Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond/Virginia parted with it. The new owner had the overpainting removed, and de Hooch’s signature came to light. Many pentimenti were found, such as the head of a man to the left of the woman. This is a frequent occurrence in the work of the painter. The painting was executed during Pieter de Hooch’s visit to Delft (1655–61). At that time, the painter produced numerous comparable pictures. They depict interiors or the courtyards of town houses with figures peacefully at work. Fred Meijer confirms that de Hooch was experimenting with a new kind of lighting in the present painting as he was in the picture in the Louvre.