Hooch or Hoogh, Pieter de [key], b. c.1629, d. after 1677, Dutch genre painter. He worked in Delft, Leiden, and Amsterdam, painting intimate interiors that may have been influenced by those of Vermeer. Usually he preferred to paint rooms opening into other rooms or to the outdoors, intriguing the imagination with half-seen vistas, and displaying his ability to handle complicated lighting effects. His warm tone and subtle colors show Rembrandt's influence. De Hooch repeated his basic compositions many times, so that his later works are static and less interesting. One of his finest paintings is Courtyard of a Dutch House (National Gall., London). His works are housed in many European museums, and the Metropolitan Museum has seven.
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