We were privileged to be able to acquire on behalf of the Centraal Museum, in Utrecht, an impressive canvas of Granida and Daifilo by the rare Utrecht Caravaggist painter Dirck van Baburen (c. 1594/5-1624).  Representing the earliest known depiction of a subject that quickly became one of the most popular Dutch pastoral themes, it was painted in Utrecht in 1623, two years after van Baburen’s return from Rome. In this tale of love, based on the play Granida by Pieter Cornelisz. Hooft, the viewer is witness to the first meeting between the shepherd Daifilo and the Persian Princess Granida.  The subject evidently struck a chord with a Dutch nobleman, Peter van Hardenbroeck, who apparently commissioned the painting to celebrate his romantic involvement with a noble-born woman, Agnes van Hanxelaar.  Just as the couple in the story had to overcome many obstacles before they were able to find true happiness, so, too, did Peter and sweetheart.  Agnes had been placed in a convent by her parents, but in 1623, she ran away to enter into a secret relationship with Hardenbroeck, whom she eventually married in 1628.  Van Baburen died prematurely in 1628, leaving only a small oeuvre.