Fake History Hunter

This article was originally a thread on social media, which is why it is formatted with lots of images and short responses.
The text is about the image below that paragraph.

Let’s analyse this wonderful painting:

The painting is a bit too revealing, whoever put this on their wall may have shocked their guests or hid it when visitors were coming.
In the 1800s someone decided to add a skirt to protect the ladies reputation and the poor innocent museum visitors, luckily the painting has since been restored.
But for us it’s mostly just a wonderful intimate peek into daily life.
You can see a much bigger version here at the Rijksmuseum website:
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/Woman-at-her-Toilet–731e266a7be9a2db97f1d7eb11c8687c

The woman is undressing, we can see that because the garter (ribbon) that she just untied that kept her stocking up has left a clear mark on her leg:

There’s a mark on her other leg as well, that stocking is already gone, I can’t see where it went:

It’s very cold, she’s wearing a warm fur lined clothes indoors:

There’s a candle holder on the chair next to her, this is probably how she found her way to her bed while the rest of the house was already dark and cold, but the light is out so I can’t help but wonder where the light for this scene is coming from:

That’s a very nice shiny chamber pot, but it appears to have already been used and it’s also not covered or put in a cupboard.
It’s a bit odd to have it next to your bed when you’re about to go to bed, maybe she’ll empty it before getting into bed, but it is also odd for it to have been there all day, is she perhaps getting up after all?

Wonderful pattens, those are a sort of indoor slippers, protecting your feet and stockings from wear but also from the cold floors.
The mat might be straw, simple but nice and effective:

A lovely little dog, already asleep, keeping the pillow warm:

This painting was copied by many artists in many different ways, it’s interesting to see the context changes.
This one however was made by the same artist but a few years later, the woman stares at us and it’s clearly daylight, she also seems to be much wealthier and into art:

We still see the lines on her legs, could it perhaps be that she had this all the time because of wearing garters every day?
Does this perhaps not tell us if she’s getting dressed or undressed after all?

On a slightly related note, this is ‘the lovesick maiden’, by the same painter, painted at roughly the same time.
Can you spot the similarities?
Did he use the same model, same place, same props, same dog?

If you enjoyed this little review, check out the other ones I’ve written:
https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2022/11/14/my-reviews/