(1660s) This painting, alternatively known as The Allegory of Painting, may be either a self-portrait or a depiction of the artist's craft; the face of the artist dressed in black, who faces away from the viewer, cannot be seen. The blue-clad model in the painting stands near a window and may be portraying Clio, the Muse of History; she holds a trumpet and cradles a large yellow book presumed to be Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. Behind the large candelabra in the painting, a map of the Low Countries hangs on the studio's back wall.