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Room A Screen 27
This picture was probably painted in the early 1650s, when Steen was living in The Hague. Steen is gently mocking the old woman who peers through the spectacles offered to her by the itinerant pedlar. This painting had a companion piece showing a fortune teller when it was sold in the Netherlands in 1171, 1778 and 1800.
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The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN