Hendrick Sorgh | A Woman playing Cards with Two Peasants | NG1055

A Woman playing Cards with Two Peasants

Hendrick Sorgh

Sorgh worked in Rotterdam and specialised in peasant scenes. This is one of a pair of paintings - the other is 'Two Lovers at a Table' (also in the National Gallery Collection) - which illustrate ways in which women can make fools of men. Here, the woman cheats the peasant of his hard-earned money; his basket of eggs and the duck suggest that he is on his way to market. His foolishness is mocked by the older man holding a clay pipe.

The panel was probably cut down to an oval after it was painted.

Key facts

Artist	Hendrick Sorgh
Artist dates	1610 or 1611 - 1670
Full title	A Woman playing Cards with Two Peasants
Group	Two Genre Scenes
Date made	1644
Medium and support	Oil on oak
Dimensions	26.3 x 36.1 cm
Inscription summary	Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit	Bequeathed by John Henderson, 1879
Inventory number	NG1055
Location in Gallery	Gallery A: Paintings after 1600

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Two Genre Scenes

These two paintings were made as pendants, or companion pieces, and would have hung next to each other.