A Monk Reading

This 1650 monk reading belongs to a category of contemplative single-figure subjects that Dou painted throughout his career — the absorbed reader, whether hermit, monk, or scholar, demonstrating the virtues of studious withdrawal from worldly distraction. The image of a solitary reader was both a devotional type (the holy man absorbed in sacred text) and a secular ideal (the scholar absorbed in learning), and Dou's treatment could serve both readings simultaneously. The monk's cell, rendered with Dou's characteristic precision in its stone walls and wooden furniture, provided a setting that contrasted the material simplicity of religious withdrawal with the extraordinary technical luxury of the painting that depicted it — a paradox typical of his devotional subjects.

The monk's face is illuminated by light falling on the open book, creating subtle reflections and shadows that model the features with extraordinary delicacy in Dou's finest manner.