My favorite thing about the Dutch Masters is that so many of their paintings tell stories with layers and layers of meaning. This is a painting at the Hermitage (part of a Russian collection on loan to Amsterdam). Of course, I failed to write down the artist’s name or the title of the piece, but I can point out some interesting things about it:
First, art historians think this is probably a seduction scene, but it’s not overt. There was a whole array of saucy symbols available to 17th-century painters—including the presence of oysters, dogs, and so forth—but none of those are present here.
The young man is stirring a lemon in a cup with his knife. It’s not clear what this means; is he brewing an aphrodisiac?
The old woman lays a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder—is she trying to protect her, or covertly encouraging her?
The girl is supporting her elbow in her other hand, maybe a self-comforting gesture. And what is going on in her face? Is she falling for the boy’s tricks? Or is she raising her eyebrow?
There are so many stories this could tell, all depending on how you interpret the facial expressions of the characters.
