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<p>Interpretation of the subject as "paternal instruction" is apparently due to Wille, as engraved in the lettering to this print. It was popularised by Goethe, in whose novel Die Wahlverwandschaften (1809) the characters enact a tableau vivant of this composition. However the seated man seems to be too young to be a plausible paterfamilias. In the original painting he may have been holding a coin, though this part of the painting is indistinct (both in the version in Berlin and in another version in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). The coin might mean that the man is a customer in a brothel or that he is indicating a dowry. Possibly Wille though that "paternal instruction" was a more suitable interpretation for a print dedicated to the empress (Kelch, op. cit., and Hoff, op. cit.)</p>

1 print : line engraving ; platemark 43 x 34.1 cm

A standing young woman being addressed by a a seated man in the presence of a seated, drinking, woman. Engraving by J.G. Wille, 1765, after G. Terborch.

1 print : line engraving with etching ; platemark 22.2 x 16.6 cm

A young physician stirring a medicinal mixture for a female patient, the patient's mother reassures her, a urine flask is on the table. Engraving by A. Romanet after G. Ter Borch the younger.

1 print : engraving ; image 34.4 x 27.3 cm

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A standing young woman being addressed by a a seated man in the presence of a seated, drinking, woman. Engraving by J.G. Wille, 1765, after G. Terborch.

A young physician stirring a medicinal mixture for a female patient, the patient's mother reassures her, a urine flask is on the table. Engraving by A. Romanet after G. Ter Borch the younger.

A young woman holding an Amsterdam newspaper looks away in contemplation. Line engraving by J.G. Wille, 17--, after G. ter Borch.

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A standing young woman being addressed by a a seated man in the presence of a seated, drinking, woman. Engraving by J.G. Wille, 1765, after G. Terborch.

A young physician stirring a medicinal mixture for a female patient, the patient's mother reassures her, a urine flask is on the table. Engraving by A. Romanet after G. Ter Borch the younger.

A young woman holding an Amsterdam newspaper looks away in contemplation. Line engraving by J.G. Wille, 17--, after G. ter Borch.

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