Follower of Hieronymus Janssens, Ladies and Gentlemen playing La Main Chaude

A group of men and women dressed in the fashions of the late 1650s play a game known by the French name La Main Chaude (‘the hot hand’). It involved one person hiding their face on the lap of another, placing their hand behind their back and then guessing who has hit that hand.

The artist, a follower of the Flemish painter Hieronymus Janssens, has placed the man bent over at the middle of the painting’s composition, so that his upturned hand is a central point around which the action of the scene develops. On the far right, a serving boy watches the game, taking his eyes off the glass balancing precariously on his platter. Four people crowd around the woman who is about to use her shoe to smack the prone man’s hand, either looking up at her or waiting expectantly for his reaction. Behind those playing the game, another group looks over in curiosity.

Standing prominently to the left is a lady wearing a feathered hat and holding up her yellow skirts, possibly in order to tip-toe away from the game or perhaps to cause a diversion. A small dog, meanwhile, is distracted by something outside the picture frame.