Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/450

426 GERARD DOU SECT. in front. In the left background is the hearth, with a kettle on the fire. A curtain is drawn up on the left. Signed in full on the chair-back on the right ; panel, a tall picture. In the possession of a Rotterdam dealer, 1899. 242. THE LOST THREAD. Sm. 131 ; M. 341. An old woman sits facing right at a table ; by the light of an oil lamp she is looking for the end of the thread on a spindle which she holds in her right hand. On the table to the right are a reel of yarn, some onions, and other things. An hour-glass stands in a niche in the right-hand wall. The woman wears a white cap and a pleated collar j she is the model repeatedly used by Dou. The figure is seen to the knees. The back- ground is dark. Signed in full under the lamp ; panel, 13 inches by io| inches. In the Dresden inventory of 1722, A. 505, "from the art chamber," described as a work of A. van Boonen ; rightly attributed to Dou in the catalogue since 1817. Now in the Dresden Gallery, 1905 catalogue, No. 1714. 242*7. An Old Woman seated at a Table, winding a Skein. Sm. 131 ; M. 341*7. Perhaps a replica of the Dresden picture (242). Panel, 14 inches by n| inches. Sale. De la Court Backer, Leyden, September 8, 1766, No. 20 (290 florins, by A. van den Enden). 242^. A Woman winding a Skein by Lamplight. Sale. Amsterdam, April 27, 1847, No. 3. 243. A GIRL WITH A CANDLE IN HER HAND WATERING FLOWERS. M. 338. A smiling girl looks out of an arched window, facing three-quarters right. In her right hand she holds a large earthen pitcher, with which she is watering a little plant in a flower-pot in front of the window. In her left hand she holds a lighted candle, throwing a strong light on her face. On the window- sill is a bottle ; to the right is a tall flowering plant in a pot. Signed in full on the sill ; panel, 1 1 inches by 8 inches. In the Dresden inventory of 1722, A. 512. Now in the Dresden Gallery, 1905 catalogue, No. 1712. 243*7. A Girl at a Window watering a Gillyflower Plant. M. 338*7. She holds an earthen pitcher. In the De Bye collection, Leyden, 1665, No. 10. 244. A GIRL AT A WINDOW WITH A CANDLE IN HER HAND, GATHERING GRAPES. Sm. 129; M. 337 and 337*7. At a square stone window, a green curtain suspended from a brass rod is drawn back. A girl looks out, holding a lighted candle in her left hand, to pluck a large bunch of grapes from the vine growing upon the house wall. Her smiling face, which is turned to the spectator, is brightly illumined. Beside her, on the window-sill, is a basket. In the left background are two figures in shadow.