The Visit

Two women of uncertain reputation entertain visiting gentlemen. While rich in shadowy effects, this picture is one of the first in which De Hooch employed linear perspective to construct a realistic interior space (the bed, however, is underscaled). At the time, he was exchanging ideas with Vermeer, whose influence is evident in the most luminous passages. The French art critic Thoré-Bürger assigned this panel to Vermeer in his pioneering articles of the 1860s. (Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)