I'm almost sorry for the young man on the right every time I watch this painting.Īs for the servant, I'm still not sure which side she is on: does she help the plump lady or is she helping the swindler? By denying any background, and by focusing very tight on the characters (and not giving them any room to breathe), the intensity of the scene and the suspense becomes almost unbearable. That is the most striking aspect of the painting. However, he has chosen to paint completely black the background. This painting seems to be set in daylight. Georges de la Tour was famous for his nocturnal paintings. With his soft cheeks he has all the air of the victim of that game. He is richly dressed, his hair is perfect, and he holds his cards and focus on them with the look of a lost puppy. Meanwhile, at the other side of the table, is sitting a young (and presumably perfumed) man. She does not look at her client (the plump lady) and holds the glass almost mechanically. Her work is to serve the players, but her gaze does not quite fit. The maidservant is obviously involved in the game, albeit in an indirect manner. She does not look either at her cards, she is focusing on the face of the maidservant, standing next to her. Obviously this smooth operator has something else in his mind, and this can't be anything else than the ace of diamond he is sneakily taking off the back of his belt.Īt the table, in the middle, is a plump lady, with a pearl necklace and a huge cleavage. He does not look at the table or at the other players but in the other direction. The players are involved in a high stake card game, as you can see with the gold coins on the table. Three are sitting (the players) and one is standing (the servant). But none has done it better than Georges de la Tour, in this precise painting.įour people are gathered around table. Paintings representing the seedy life of the cities of the time were common, and gambling being a typical trait, a lot of painters took advantage of the potential of such a scene to give life to their canvas. This work is definitely inspired by Caravaggio and his 'Cardsharps': However, the painting for which he is probably the most famous, and the painting I like the most, is The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds. For exemple, in Joseph the Carpenter, the biblical figure is represented as if a carpenter from the XVIIth century. Whatever the truth is, he became popular at the court of the Duke of Lorraine, only to become almost instantly forgotten as soon as he died in 1652.Ī lot of his paintings are inspired by religion of course, but they are always set in a contemporary environment. Some say he travelled to Rome, where he met Caravage, whose influence can be seen in his work, especially in the play with light and shades. He was the son of a baker and it is unknown how he came to become a painter himself. Georges de la Tour is a French painter from the XVIIth century, who was born in 1593 in Lorraine. So many good paintings in the Louvre, you could be forgiven not to know this one.

The cheat with the ace of clubs