4203 - Wouter Crabeth II, after ‘The Card Players’

Wouter Crabeth II, after ‘The Card Players’ In a tavern, a man and a lasciviously dressed woman are playing cards; the woman is being groped by a man, whilst another woman behind him hands the man a glass of wine. The painting follows in the tradition of Caravaggio’s genre paintings; the woman’s clothing, the metaphorical significance of the card game and the actions of the figure in the background make it clear that this is a brothel scene; the painting is a copy by the Dutch artist Wouter Pietersz Crabeth II, which now hangs in the National Museum in Warsaw and is one of the artist’s best-known works. Oil on wood, probably 18th century, unsigned, restored, in need of minor restoration, in a stucco frame, with minimal scuffing; inner dimensions 47 x 56 cm.