‘I Bring You Sad Tidings’
From the messenger’s stance it may be deduced that he bears terrible news. While he informs Andriessen about the death of his regular model Mietje, the artist is at work on a figurative painting, his right hand resting on a mahlstick. In this phase a model is no longer necessary, and so it is possible that the nude woman at the left is a reminder of Mietje.