Malle Babbe

This is the year of Frans Hals - a famous Dutch painter - who origins from Haarlem.

In 1633 he painted Malle Babbe's portrait who is acclaimed to have been a prostitute / witch.
In Holland Malle Babbe is someone who is associated with beer, fun and easy moral values and is even the name of a Jopen Beer type and a famous Dutch song.

I often doubted if she was a real or a fiction personality, but history proves the first. Her real name was Barbara Cleas and was mentally disabled. She was abducted in an institution in 1646 and died there in 1663.

Cycling through the small streets of Haarlem I found this house with red lights that seems to be the entrance to a brothel court? I haven't been inside, but the photographer in me is curious to go behind the door.

Sneak peek for me? Just press the 'L' key or the magnifying glass and tell me if I can dare to go in with my camera.

Oh yeah, there's a color version here.