This image of domestic industry was created at the same time as De Hooch’s similarly dignified courtyard scene (cat. 5) displayed in the next gallery. This is Dou at his most ambitious: a complex space, filled with miscellaneous objects, is partly revealed by the light of the open window and partly veiled in shadow. This painting was given to Charles II by the Dutch State in 1660. When William III inherited the Royal Collection he sent a small group of paintings, including this work, to decorate his palace at Het Loo in the Netherlands. These paintings now hang, with the cream of the Dutch Royal Collection, at the Mauritshuis. Royal Cabinet of Paintings, Mauritshuis, The Hague Ex. cat.