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Is the figure on the left in The Procuress thought to be a self-portrait of Johannes Vermeer?
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Johannes Vermeer
Girl with a Pearl Earring, oil on canvas by Johannes Vermeer, c. 1665; in the Mauritshuis, The Hague.
Yes, the dimly lit figure on the left of the composition in The Procuress (1656) is widely considered to be a self-portrait of Johannes Vermeer. In this painting, Vermeer appears to have assumed the guise of the Prodigal Son, a role that the artist Rembrandt van Rijn had also previously depicted in his own "merry company" scenes.1