Painted in the late 1620s, The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs is a brightly lit genre scene by Georges de la Tour. The artist and reveals a wealth of fine fabrics and textures of clothing that relate to the card game’s monetary motivation. This motivation is excessive in the player on the left who is cheating.
He looks towards us as if implicating us in his dishonesty while the boy on the right is unsuspecting. However, the wry glances of the two ladies seem to tell us of their own suspicion while we are left wondering whether they will intervene.
Georges de la Tour’s The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs is in the Kimbell Art Museum at Fort Worth.