A Young Lady Trimming her Fingernails

In 17th-century Holland it was usual to drape tables with Turkish carpets, as here, on the right. The tapestry hanging on the back wall appears to show Hagar in the Wilderness. Probably painted in the early 1670s, this painting belongs to a group of works by the artist from these years, in which the same costumes are worn and the same basin and ewer appear.

Ochtervelt is said to have been a pupil of Nicolaes Berchem (1620 - 1683) at the same time as Pieter de Hooch (1629 - 1684).