Paulus Constantijn La Fargue, 'The Grote Markt at The Hague', 1760

La Fargue presents a flourishing market packed with people. Such a picture was painted to provide entertainment in discovering every transaction, every misdeed, every joke – even introducing the new fashions in dress for the wealthy.

A member of a large family, La Fargue lived in The Hague and knew it well, and the city when it was busy and crowded became one his favourite themes. He looks on his world fondly and with humour, making ’slice of life' pictures similar to William Hogarth, but without Hogarth’s merciless, satirical eye.

Seen from the Prinsengracht – one of the principal thoroughfares of The Hague – the building in the centre is the Grote Kerk, the Church of St Jacob. On the left is the Boterhuis, a newly-built warehouse for storing wholesale butter – one of the mainstays of the prosperous Dutch economy. In front of it, a market stall sells second hand clothes, with stockings hanging up and looking as if the legs are still in them. A second stall offers old curtains, blankets and bedclothes. A black metal fountain provides water and a horse and cart stand ready to take away unsold goods.

La Fargue has painted the picture on a mahogany panel, an expensive wood brought in from the West Indies on a Dutch trading ship that brought other luxury goods to a self-confident, prosperous country. He paints the tall trees with the impasto technique, so the surface of each leaf would be rough if you were to touch it, compared with the smooth but vigorous brushstrokes of the rest of the picture. He paints every brick, every windowpane and every crooked drainpipe with care and precision. He does the same with the ramshackle market buildings and with the people, giving them character and life.

Over to the right are people at ease: wine is drunk, spirits sipped, clay pipes smoked. Behind them, a woman bends over a basket. Next to her, a young woman has her hand on the arm of a shy, awkward young man. Judging by the vegetables on show, it was a good year for carrots. A mother leans down to taste one while her little girl tugs her apron. The child wants to go and look at the great lady in the gorgeous white dress, who, with other people round her, has her attention on something unseen on the ground.

A man in a smart blue frock coat addresses a young woman. A dog jumps up to be petted, another sniffs for food. Beneath a nearby tree, another fine young man is about to have his pocket picked. A woman’s hand sneaks towards it while a second woman catches his attention. Behind it three women, arms clasped across their stomachs as if nervous, stand in front of an old woman, who is perhaps telling their fortune, perhaps hiring a maid, perhaps dispensing rough justice.

The fun of the picture, then and now, is in a personal interpretation of each little event, and in returning again and again to find something new to explore.