In this respect, the Louvre painting is one of La Tour’s “firsts.” In 1934, the Cheat featured in the memorable exhibition of the Painters of Reality (Peintres de la réalité) that brought French 17th-century painting back to glory and marked the revival of Georges de La Tour. Purchased in 1926 by Paul Landry from an antique dealer on the Île Saint-Louis, the painting bearing the artist’s handsome signature, was made public by Hermann Voss, in 1931, in an article that was to deliver the artist from the depths of oblivion. One of George de La Tour’s masterpieces and a classic of French painting, the Cheat occupies a particular place among the artist’s works for several reasons. Another version with notable variations is known to exist, the Cheat with the Ace of Clubs (Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum). The young man is subjected here to three major temptations according to 17th-century moral standards: gambling, wine, and lust. The only diurnal painting by Georges de La Tour in the Louvre along with the Saint Thomas, the Cheat illustrates a theme that was frequently taken up in the wake of Caravaggio. It was only in the early twentieth century that his oeuvre began to be rediscovered. Although he created some of the most visually compelling images of his age, soon after his death he fell into obscurity. For most of his life, La Tour remained in his native duchy of Lorraine, remote from Paris.
Another autograph version of this subject, Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds (Musée du Louvre, Paris), displays abundant variations in details of color, clothing, and accessories. The cheat tips his cards toward the viewer, who thereby becomes complicit in the scheme, knowing that in the next moment, the conniving trio of cheat, maidservant, and courtesan (identified by her low-cut bodice) will prevail. His characters enact a psychological drama that unfolds through the cues of their sidelong gazes and the measured gestures that signal their next moves. La Tour’s dazzling colors and elaborate costumes create a brilliant tableau. While the theme harks back to Caravaggio’s influential Cardsharps, also in the Kimbell, the roots of this engaging morality play can be traced to earlier representations of the biblical subject of the prodigal son. One of the greatest masterpieces of seventeenth-century French art, Georges de La Tour’s Cheat with the Ace of Clubs takes as its subject the danger of indulgence in wine, women, and gambling. The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs is Georges de la Tour's masterpiece in which the cheat at the left of the composition tips his cards toward the viewer, who thereby becomes complicit in the scheme, knowing that in the next moment, the conniving trio of cheat, maidservant, and courtesan (identified by her low-cut bodice) will prevail. Work Overview The Cheat with the Ace of Clubsģ8 1/2 x 61 1/2 in.
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