Frans van Mieris was a prolific self-portraitist – his face has been identified in at least 31 of his paintings, a quarter of his entire output. Here he includes himself as the figure of the lecherous man stroking the dog. The woman is his wife Cunera van der Cock who he had married three years earlier and who he frequently used as a model. This subject deliberately plays on the multiple meanings (and sexual connotations) of the Dutch word 'bruien' (teasing).

Cat. 104