Merry company with two men and two women [SEP] material used
Merry company with two men and two women
Merry company with two men and two women (1657) is an oil on panel painting by the Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch; it is an example of a Merry Company, a popular form of genre painting in Dutch Golden Age painting, showing a group of figures who are not meant to be identified as portraits enjoying each other's company. It is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
This painting by Hooch was documented by Hofstede de Groot in
).
Other of his merry company paintings are believed to convey some moral message through the use of certain symbols. The "Card players" (Guernsey Museum & Art Gallery) depicts a scene of a company of two woman and four men. Two of the men and the women are sitting around a table playing cards. The composition may be a criticism of the vice of gambling, which leads to an individual's downfall. One of the players in the composition is a soldier, who has left his sword vulnerable