#dutch-golden-age

The blue in her jacket is ultramarine — ground lapis lazuli that reportedly cost more than gold at the time. Not the obvious choice for a plain house dress, if that's what this even is.

Nobody's actually sure who these two are, or which couple from the Old Testament they're dressed up as — the title only got attached by a dealer a couple of hundred years later and stuck. Van Gogh supposedly said he'd give ten years of his life to sit in front of it for a fortnight with nothing but a dry crust to eat.

They say this was painted late in his career, for the guild that checked the quality of dyed cloth — literally the men grading everyone else's fabric. It was meant to hang in their own guild hall.

This is meant to be an Old Testament prophet mourning Jerusalem's fall to Babylon — the city's still burning in the corner, and those gold objects are supposedly temple treasure he saved. Apparently this is from very early in his career, well before the more famous group portraits.

Man, woman, glass of wine in a tidy room — this was a whole genre in the Netherlands, and buyers at the time apparently read it straight off as a warning about where the drinking was heading. There's said to be a figure in the stained glass holding a set of reins, which stood for holding yourself back.

They say the title's a bit of a mix-up — old varnish darkened over the centuries until the scene looked like night, though it's really broad daylight. It was also trimmed down on all four sides at some point, apparently to fit between two doors.

They say she's technically a kitchen maid, not a dairy worker — the milk here is just breakfast, not her job. It's been called one of the finest paintings of everyday life there is, though I'm never sure who gets to decide that.

I read that some people who've studied this closely think the older man's two hands look different on purpose - one softer, like it's meant to read as a mother's touch, the other firmer. Once you notice it, it's hard to unsee.