"....it will be done soon."

"You're being ridiculous. I'm going out."

(off camera)

"It was the right coulour."

"I've not yet found a subject."

"Stay as you were."

"By the window."

"Drop it."

"Just....."

"You can go."

"Do you know what it is?"

"A camera obscura."

"Look into the glass."

"Here. Put this on."

"You can see?"

"-No, no, don't worry about the robe."

"What did you see?"

"See this? This is called a lens. Beams of reflected light from that corner pass through it......into the box so that we can see it here."

"It's an image.  A picture made of light."

"Mm. It helps."

**********

"Cornelia. I won't tell you again."

**********

"Ssh."

"Stay."

"Lead white.  From the cupboard."

"Are you looking at it?"

"Well?"

"This is the base colour. It gives the tone....shadow in the light. And when its dry, I glaze over it with blue, but....thinly, so that the black shows through."

"Look, Griet. Look at the clouds. What colour are they?"

"Now you understand."

**********

"Come."

"This....is ruby shellac.  Gum arabic.  Wine skin. This will make verdigris.  Malachite.  Vermilion.  That...Linseed oil. Boneblack. And you grind it with a muller, like this."

"You try."

"Twist from the shoulder.  No.  It's like this."

"Griet."

"I want you to get something for me, too. I want some colours. My wife need not know. This is.....is too thin."

***********

"Did you get the lapis?"

"You can mix the colours."

"Make time."

"God save me from my womenfolk."

(off camera)

**********

"Why not move Tanneke back? Put a mattress in the attic for Griet.  Tanneke can sleep soundly....and Griet can clean the studio before she comes down in the morning."

"You lock up at night. Open it in the morning."

"Why did you move the chair?"

**********

"Cornelia."

"No. No, I've already....already begun a group painting. You're not to sit with Master Van Ruijven, that much is agreed."

"I'm to paint you alone."

**********

"Tomorrow morning."

"Find a way."

**********

"The front of your cap. Fold it back."

"Take off your cap."

"Cannot?"

"I need to see your face. The cap covers too much. There's some cloth in the storeroom."

**********

"I'll be in my studio till dinner."

"Open your mouth.

"Open your mouth. Less."

"Now  lick your lips."

"Again."

"Again."

**********

"Wear these."

"Look, Griet. A point of light in the shadow of the neck, leading the eye."

**********

"It's needed. The composition, it's not balanced."

"Want me to imagine how the earring would look?"

"This has to be, Griet. See for yourself."

"Look at me. Now, turn your head, not your shoulders."

"Look at me."

"There, that's it."

"There's no point."

"It's just a commission. Gone in a few days. You need never see it."

"You'll make yourself ill."

"Because you don't understand."

"What are you doing?"

"But why did you lay them out like that?"

"Is that the order they go in the pot?"

"You've separated the whites, carrots, and the cabbage."

"Ah."

"You might clean my studio."

"Be careful."

"I didn't ask for blue."

"Put it away."

"Now look away."

"Back at me again."

"Want me to paint you with a mop in your hands?"

"No.  I don't know...maybe, maybe the costume."

"No."

"I'm not to paint you as...as a lady, nor as a maid? What then?"

"There.  I'll paint you as I first saw you."

"Not as a maid.......... you."