The procuress is a painting by 24-year-old Johanna Vermeer during the Dutch Golden Age of painting.

During this time the Dutch were the most prosperous people of Europe, and excelled in art and science. Following the Eighty Years’ War - a Dutch revolution from the Catholic Spainiards, the number of religioius-based paintings plummeted and a rising interest in paintings without religious subjects increased.

This gave rise to what is now known as “genre painting” which is a focus on subjects that can’t be named specifically. For instance, Jesus Christ and Mother Mary would not be subjects in genre paintings. The Procuress depicts a realistic scene of a woman selling her body, quite different than a painting of a saint or other religious figure.