Merry Company

Honthorst's genre painting relates to the subject portrayed by his fellow Utrecht Caravaggisti. It depicts a provocative scene of a wanton student (the prodigal son?) in the company of two prostitutes and a procuress carrying an infant. The pages of an immense open folio on the table are brilliantly illuminated by candle-light as is the semi-nude torso of the theorbo-playing prostitute. One of the pages illustrates an older man and a nude child, most likely Cupid, beating a woman who holds a large book. The opposite page shows a Latin poem.