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A Young Man and a Girl playing Cards

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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We are in the middle of a card game. One figure stares directly at us, a look of apparently benign amusement on his face as he holds his hand close to his chest. By contrast his opponent is focused intently – perhaps even short-sightedly – on her hand, deliberating on how to play next. Judging from the coins spilling out of the man’s purse onto the table, there seems to be money at stake. Card playing was a controversial activity in seventeenth-century Holland, associated with laziness, greed, deceit and a lack of chastity, and artists often hinted at these themes in their paintings. However, whether there is an erotic charge or a moral message behind this picture is far from certain. The coins might be taken as suggestive of a commercial exchange, but there are no other hints of potential seduction or illicit love.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

A Young Man and a Girl playing Cards

Date

perhaps about 1645-50

Medium

Oil on canvas

Measurements

H 123.5 x W 104 cm

Accession number

NG1247

Acquisition method

Bought, 1888

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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