The cheat with the ace of clubs, late 1620s

Art

Cheat with Ace of Clubs

Georges de La Tour, a French artist who lived from 1593-1652, pained this work. He painted this work, "The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs" in the late 1620s, in the Baroque style. It is oil on canvas, sized 38-1/2 x 61-1/2 inches.

This interesting painting contains a scene with four people. Three of these people are involved in cheating the fourth at a game of cards. A man with a pile of coins in front of him plays a card, while a servant pours wine and a woman uses her eyes to tell her accomplice to play the ace he had hidden in the back of his belt. All this goes on in front of the victim's eyes, and yet he does not suspect anything. The lines of the painting are smooth and rounded, giving the appearance of well-fed, comfortable people.

The motion of the painting is subtle and very elegant. The maidservant is clearly in the act of serving wine, and the painting seems like a snapshot, stopping the motion for just a second. The cheat moves gracefully while distracting the victim and all of the motion seems orchestrated together to create the scene. Thus, there is implied motion even though the moment seems caught in time and frozen in space. The shape and overall effect of the painting is round or oval. The lines and edges all suggest roundness, plumpness, and fullness, and because of this, opulence or at least contentedness. Most of the painting is filled up with the figures and the scene, so the overall mass is full and heavy. The overall effect of the painting is wealth, as almost all the figures are richly dressed and seem prosperous.

The lighting of the work is natural, and the cheat is hidden in shadow (as he should be). The woman who seems to be orchestrating the entire cheating scheme seems almost spotlighted, and overall, the lighting is natural and quite pleasant. The lighting adds to the overall value of the scene and helps the viewer understand the theme and idea behind the painting, which is that people should not allow themselves to be overcome by vices. The value of the lighting is not bright, but realistic and certainly not dark and brooding. The highlights on the victim and his hat, and the woman add interest and detail to the work.

This painting has extremely rich texture and pattern. Many of the details are intricate, and they make the painting come alive. The detail in the clothing makes it come alive, and it seems to have texture that the viewer could touch. The patterns of the fabric and the entire scene are quite vibrant too, and the give an overall feelings of depth and space that seems almost 3-D. The artist uses shading and shadow to create depth too, and it gives the effect of real fabric draped around the servant's head and in the tunic and feather on the hat of the victim. The texture of the four people's skin seems almost like porcelain and contrasts with the texture of the fabric they are wearing.

The clothing indicates this painting was painted during the Renaissance, and so it was painted as a contemporary painting when the artist painted it. The emotion of the painting is very real. The viewer feels sorry for the victim, who looks so innocent, and wonders why the others feel compelled to cheat him. There is also controlled excitement in the work, as if everything has stopped. The viewer wonders if the accomplices will be caught, or if the victim will ever figure out just what occurred during this "friendly" game.