The Flea Hunt

About the Art

This genre scene pictures a young prostitute and elderly procuress searching the sheets to kill fleas. Fleas and bedbugs were common in Europe at the time and are a frequent subject in art from the 17th and 18th centuries. The young men, clients within the brothel, enjoy secretly seeing the nude woman.

Like many other European painters, Honthorst visited Rome, where he was influenced by artists’ use of dramatic light in paintings, as seen here by the shielded candle to illuminate the scene. Hornthost was so successful with works like this that he earned the Italian nickname “Gherardo delle notte” (Gerard of the night scenes).

FEATURED IMAGE
Gerrit van Honthorst (Dutch, 1590–1656), The Flea Hunt, 1621, oil on canvas, 52 1/4 x 78 1/2 inches (132.7 x 199.4 cm). Museum purchase with funds provided in part by the 1980 Associate Board Art Ball, 1980.2