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Dimensions: 73.7 by 68.5cm., 29 by 27in.

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Notes: PROPERTY OF AMBASSADOR AND MRS ELSON
The sense of mood, heightened by the dramatic infiltration of daylight, imbues the present work with mystery, gravity and serenity. The seated woman gazes thoughtfully through the window, creating a soft and pensive atmosphere in which the figure is an object amongst others, another element within an evocative domestic interior. The elegant austerity of the scene is softened by the emotional content and feathered brushwork, and mitigated by the warm slant of the sun through the windowpanes.

Drawing away from the sentimentality of Golden Age interiors, Holsoee and his contemporaries imbued this traditional genre with a sense of timeless sanctity. Through the solitary, usually female, figures with their concealed identity, Holsoee's paintings evoke the brooding nature of introspection and self-absorption. This view of domestic tranquillity was preceded and influenced by the 17υth Century interiors of the Dutch masters Vermeer, de Hooch, and ter Borch, and Holsoee would be joined by the Danish leading lights Hammershoei and Ilsted in his exploration of the emotional content inherent in the household interior.