Pieter de Hooch

Baptized in December 1629, Pieter Hendricksz. de Hooch first appears in Delft records in August 1652, witnessing a will alongside another painter. He worked in the Delft Guild of St. Luke at the same time as Jan Vermeer, and their work overlapped in theme and style — both drawn to the contained world of Dutch interiors. De Hooch built his reputation on genre scenes: domestic moments framed by open doorways, light spilling across tile and brick. He was last documented in 1679. His death date remains unknown, though it came after 1683; his son Pieter died in 1684, a date sometimes mistaken for t…