Jeanette’s brow crinkled. ‘I highly doubt it. Catharina only painted Anna once. Whereas she made dozens of different sketches of Griet and used her as her model and muse for at least six paintings. When Griet left the van Shurmans’ household suddenly – the circumstances around her departure are unclear – Catharina fell into deep despair. Her brother wrote to various physicians, asking their advice for treating a severe case of melancholia. These days we’d call it depression. And then he hired your Anna Tesseltje to be her companion and boost her spirits. When Anna left it must have hurt Catharina’s feelings deeply. And then she died before they reconciled.’

‘What about the brother?’ I said.

‘Crispijn.’ Jeanette pointed to a portrait of a boy in his late teens, his dark eyes full of laughter. ‘He died young, the same year as Anna actually. You can see how similar the twins were in looks and temperament. Catharina often said he was the anchor to her boat, the thing that pulled her back when she was at her lowest ebb. She didn’t paint many other portraits of him either, but I’ve seen letters they wrote to each other which are full of fondness and affection. Griet seems to have been a bit of a sore point between them. There were heated exchanges back and forth. But underneath it all, they really loved each other. And that must have been something worth holding onto during a time when life was so precarious, when you could wake up with a cold and be dead by sunset.’

She nodded towards a painting on the far wall that I hadn’t noticed. A funeral scene, depicting a coffin being carried out of an old Dutch church past two pale-haired children who wept openly, holding onto each other for support.

‘Do you know why Catharina never finished the Horsts’ wedding portrait?’ I said.

‘No. Perhaps it was something to do with money or payment. Considering what happened afterwards – Anna’s defection to the Horsts, all those tragic deaths – I suppose everyone forgot about it. Or maybe Catharina just lost interest. She moved to France the following year after selling the house and dismissing the servants and declaring she was giving up painting for good. She did continue painting, as it turns out, but never sold her art for a profit again. She just gave them as gifts to close friends and people who’d shown her kindness. Interestingly, the figures she painted weren’t royalty or wealthy merchants like the subjects of her earlier works but servants and ordinary people. Catharina depicted them going about their daily business – praying, gardening, reading, preparing a meal. The technique she used – luminous effects, it’s called – makes it seem as if they’re glowing, illuminated from within by a radiant goodness. The glaze is made from linseed oil applied in thin layers over a tempera base. Her subjects were almost always women.’