Full title | Two Lovers at Table |
---|---|
Artist | Hendrick Sorgh |
Artist dates | 1610 or 1611 - 1670 |
Series | Two Genre Scenes |
Date made | 1644 |
Medium and support | Oil on oak |
Dimensions | 26.4 x 36.4 cm |
Inscription summary | Signed; Dated |
Acquisition credit | Bequeathed by John Henderson, 1879 |
Inventory number | NG1056 |
Location | Gallery A: Paintings after 1600 |
Collection | Main Collection |
A love-struck man stares lustfully at a young woman. She in turn stares directly at us with a knowing smile, holding his chin with her left hand – a look and a gesture which clearly underlines her power over him. Meanwhile, in the gloom at the back of the room, an old lady looks in at the door: she is a brothel keeper.
The artist’s message? Here is a man who, succumbing to erotic temptation, is being exploited by women. But as well as this moral theme, there is knowing humour and plenty of double entendres in the scene. The vertical thrust of the wine glass in the man’s hand, not far from his groin, is an obvious example.
The painting has a pair, A Woman Playing Cards with Two Peasants, which plays on a similar theme, but is harder to interpret – it may echo the same theme, or provide a counter to it.
It is clear who is in charge in this picture. A love-struck man stares lustfully at a young woman, lost in reverie. She in turn meets our eyes with a knowing smile, holding his chin with her left hand, a look and a gesture which clearly underline her sense of power over him. If we were in any doubt about the situation, we need only peer into the gloom at the back of the room. The old lady looking in at the door is a brothel keeper.
The artist’s message? Here is a man who, by succumbing to erotic temptation, is being exploited by women. But it is probably wrong to see this simply as a judgemental painting warning against lust and, perhaps, the disabling effects of alcohol. There is too much knowing humour in the scene for this to be the case. Dutch painters and patrons took great pleasure in sophisticated and obscene double entendres. The vertical thrust of the wine glass in the man’s hand, not far from his groin, and the flask with its open neck, just beneath the woman’s seat, would have been interpreted by many viewers as sexual references. The slant-eyed cat which has slunk under the table was also a traditional metaphor for female sensuality.
The story is complicated because this is one of a pair of small parlour paintings by Sorgh, who specialised in depicting peasants in such situations; the other, A Woman Playing Cards with Two Peasants, is also in the National Gallery. The paintings are the same size; both were probably originally rectangular but have been shaped into ovals at a later date. They have a similar setting, probably an inn, and a cast of three. In the card-playing scene, however, there is one woman and two men – the woman is winning a card game against one of the men and reaching for her winnings, while the other man looks on with amusement. Depending on the way you interpret the scene, it either reinforces the idea that women make fools of men, or presents the opposite view.
Both paintings are more than amusing moralistic scenes, however. They also incorporate a still life composition – another popular genre of the time. In Two Lovers at Table, it is particularly pronounced and includes classic elements used by painters to demonstrate their skill at rendering different textures and materials. Here the glistening pewter, the crusty roll on the folds of the table cloth, the two glasses and the apples on a china plate form a beautifully composed sideshow to the seduction going on around them.
Download a low-resolution copy of this image for personal use.
License and download a high-resolution image for reproductions up to A3 size from the National Gallery Picture Library.
License imageThis image is licensed for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons agreement.
Examples of non-commercial use are:
- Research, private study, or for internal circulation within an educational organisation (such as a school, college or university)
- Non-profit publications, personal websites, blogs, and social media
The image file is 800 pixels on the longest side.
As a charity, we depend upon the generosity of individuals to ensure the collection continues to engage and inspire. Help keep us free by making a donation today.
You must agree to the Creative Commons terms and conditions to download this image.
Two Genre Scenes
These two small parlour paintings might represent two complementary variations on the same theme or two contrasting ones. In Two Lovers at Table, a man stares lustfully at a young woman. She gives us a knowing smile, and a brothel-keeper waits in the background. This is a man succumbing to erotic temptation and being exploited by women. But there is less certainty about A Woman Playing Cards with Two Peasants. In it, a woman reaches for her winnings from a male opponent. It may be that she has tempted him into a game of cards but the deceit could be working the other way: perhaps he allowed her to win in the hope of gaining her favour.
The latter interpretation suggests that one painting illustrates the deceit of men, its pair the deceit of women. But if we see the woman as the trickster in both, then each must be a warning to men about manipulative women.
These two small parlour paintings were almost certainly made as a pair. They are the same size, and both were probably originally rectangular and shaped into ovals at a later date. They also have a similar setting, probably an inn, a cast of three and comic undertones. But whether they represent two complementary variations on the same theme or two contrasting ones is open to debate.
Two Lovers at Table seems relatively straightforward. A love-struck man holding a wine glass stares lustfully at a young woman, while she meets our eye with a knowing smile. The vertical thrust of the wine glass in the man’s hand, not far from his groin, and the flask with an open neck, just beneath the woman’s seat, would have been interpreted by many viewers as sexual references. If we were in any doubt about the situation, we need only peer into the gloom at the back of the room where a brothel-keeper is looking in at the door. Here is a man succumbing to erotic temptation and being exploited by women.
There is less certainty about its companion piece, A Woman Playing Cards with Two Peasants. Here we see the woman reaching for her winnings from a disconsolate male opponent; another man looks on with amusement. It either reinforces the idea that women make fools of men, as in Two Lovers at Table or presents the opposite view, depending on the way you interpret the scene. It may be that the woman has tempted the man into a game of cards, and we see her trump his trick and reach out for his money. But it may be that the deceit is working the other way: her amorous opponent has allowed her to win in the hope of gaining her favour, or he is subtly rewarding her in advance for the favours he hopes she will confer on him.
If we accept the latter interpretation then one of these paintings illustrates the deceit of men, the other the deceit of women. If we see the woman as the trickster in both, then they become a warning to men against the manipulations of women. Perhaps the artist deliberately left the meanings unresolved – all part of the fun of the pairing.


More paintings by Hendrick Sorgh
