A Candlelight Scene: A Man offering a Gold Chain and Coins to a Girl seated on a Bed

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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A man offers gold coins and jewellery to woman lying on a bed -- a carving of Cupid, the god of erotic love, on the bedpost in the foreground removes any doubt that it is an amorous encounter. The glass of wine would also have been associated with licentious behaviour. Whether this is a transaction taking place in a brothel or a gift from an enamoured lover is not explicit, but the coins strongly imply that it's a commercial exchange.Schalcken often painted candlelit scenes and here the warm glow casts the woman in a flattering light and emphasises the softness of the pillow behind her. But it also highlights some hard, worldly realities: the gold glittering in the man’s hand, the pearls of the woman’s necklace -- an expensive piece of jewellery -- and the costly gold braid on her dress.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

A Candlelight Scene: A Man offering a Gold Chain and Coins to a Girl seated on a Bed

Date

about 1665-70

Medium

Oil on copper

Measurements

H 15.5 x W 18.9 cm

Accession number

NG999

Acquisition method

Wynn Ellis Bequest, 1876

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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