Argument over a Card Game

Some card players are gathered at a wooden table outside a country inn. An argument has broken out.

A few of the peasants have already drawn their knives and pitch forks.

While a cavalier in doublet and hose is reaching for his sword.

A small child and a woman are trying to stop him from fully drawing his weapon out of its scabbard. The older man at the table reacts calmly, trying to mollify the disputing parties.

The peasants at the left of the picture are following events through drink-weary eyes and with evident enjoyment.

The cards and scoreboard on the table show that this is a fight over a lost card game – perhaps one of the players feels he has been cheated by his opponent.

In this picture, Jan Steen (c.1626–1679), a master of genre painting in the Dutch Golden Age, shows off his stage-management skills and imaginative story-telling. He has cleverly arranged his figures in a variety of different groupings; some crowded together, some more loosely clustered.

While the background has been roughly sketched in with relatively broad brushstrokes ...

... the gleaming sword of the cavalier in the foreground has been painted in fine detail.

In this painting, Jan Steen shows us sin and folly. One vice leads to another: gambling and alcohol lead to an angry outburst and the situation slides out of control. Yet Steen skilfully manages to defuse the drama.

The figures in the painting are depicted with humorous exaggeration; their behaviour is almost theatrical. The hero with the sword is like the traditional figure of the Captain from Commedia dell arte and, like his stage counterpart, he is happy to let himself be mollified by the woman and child.

The painting thus resembles a theatrical comedy – it conveys a moral message yet entertains at the same time.