The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds

Georges de La Tour painted The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds around 1635, one of his secular genre paintings depicting a card game in which a richly dressed young man is being deceived by a prostitute and her accomplices — the cheat palming cards while a serving woman in the background signals to him. The subject descended from the Flemish tradition of the prodigal son squandering his inheritance on gambling and prostitutes, but La Tour renders it without moralizing emphasis: the participants are observed with the same attentive neutrality he brings to his religious subjects. The candlelit nocturnal setting, the rich costumes, and the subtle interplay of glances among the conspirators create a scene of elegant social corruption.

The sideways glances of the conspiring women and the oblivious victim create a tense narrative, with La Tour's precise rendering of the rich costumes and the concealed ace adding visual drama to the moral tale.