It has been suggested, and I agree, that beyond, or behind, the topical subject, there is--what is rarely lacking in de la Tour's work--a religious implication. Yet it is an accomplished picture. The figures are effectively placed: the courtesan-hostess sits central and all but full-faced, one hand on the table holding her cards, covered, the other held out towards the maid who stands on her right with wine-glass and flask, her head bent and her …showed first 75 words of 975 total…

…showed last 75 words of 975 total…feeling for colour and the observant interest in details that are constant--but chastened--in his full-grown work. There are wanting as yet the striking originality of his characteristic style, the economy, the austerity, the severe design that are fundamental in it: but while he follows a contemporary fashion, not without enjoyment, his personality is already felt in the moderate, quiet, static treatment of a type of subject that with others was commonly restless, noisy and exaggerated.