Pieter de Hooch was born in Rotterdam in 1617, the son of a mason and a midwife. His career as a painter started in Delft. As usual in his day, he had a second string to his bow besides painting: he was an assistant to a linen merchant. De Hooch specialised in decorous interiors with merry companies of people. Views through windows or corridors into other, distant rooms often featured in his work. Like other Dutch genre painters, De Hooch sometimes gave his interiors hidden messages. After moving to Amsterdam in 1661, De Hooch's domestic groups tended to become increasingly elegant and affluent. De Hooch eventually died in Amsterdam's Dolhuis (madhouse). When this happened is not known for certain.