Melcher could be right. It could be a servant bathing the child. Over the life of the painting, the two women have been thought to be sisters by anyone who commented at all.
Anyway, before the usual robopost appears giving the usual robolinks, you might want to check out a genuinely informative page on this painting, one curated by actual humans, at collection.chrysler.org/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/220/72/displayDate-desc and brought to you by an actual human interested in art history.
Melcher could be right. It could be a servant bathing the child. Over the life of the painting, the two women have been thought to be sisters by anyone who commented at all.
Anyway, before the usual robopost appears giving the usual robolinks, you might want to check out a genuinely informative page on this painting, one curated by actual humans, at collection.chrysler.org/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/220/72/displayDate-desc and brought to you by an actual human interested in art history.