Hooch, Pieter de (1629–1684)

Dutch painter. He painted harmonious domestic interiors and courtyards, his style influenced by Jan Vermeer. The Courtyard of a House in Delft (1658; National Gallery, London) is a typical work.

Hooch was born near Rotterdam and was a pupil of Berchem, probably in Haarlem. He worked mainly in Delft, where he first came under the strong influence of Vermeer, though his colours are warmer and softer that Vermeer's silvery tones. It was during this Delft period that he painted his interiors, favouring two or three figures in a domestic setting, and also his courtyard and garden scenes. All these pictures are characterized by a sensitive rendering of space, light and atmosphere, and a clarity and precision that gives than an untroubled stillness and order. An example is A Woman and her Maid in a Courtyard (about 1660; National Gallery, London).

Around 1667 he moved to Amsterdam and the quality of his work – attempts to depict fashionable society in luxurious surroundings – declined shaply.

He is generally considered something more than a genre painter, for though his courtyards and interiors with their domestic figures and visitors give fascinating glimpses of everyday life, the beauty of these compositions primarily depends on the sense of space, the effect of light and exquisitely calculated arrangement, as in the Boy Bringing Pomegranates (Wallace Collection, London). At his best he comes near to Vermeer.