Scène Galante, Dutch School, 17th C., Willem Van Mieris (162-1747) Workshop

In a loosely defined architectural setting, somewhere betweenthe terrace of a dwelling and the interior of a cabaret, a couple is shown in the foregroundforeground, while behind them a second couple appears to be in conversation.
The manwears a rather elegant outfit consisting of a green embroidered pourpoint, a velvetred velvet gown that falls from his shoulders, and an empanelled hatwhich he has placed beside him on a barrel.
However, his lace-collared shirtlace collar is wide open, more reclining than sitting on his seat, his gazevague gaze, he seems to be taken with drink, in a somewhat careless pose.The man holds his half-full wine glass in front of him with his left hand right hand, concealed from the viewer, seems to have joined the right handwhich is also hidden from us.
The woman, standing behind him, smiles knowingly as she looks at him and her left hand ostentatiously displays a notched plaice in his left hand. This fish, carrying erotic connotations, is associated with the female sex and appears in several paintings by Willem van Mieris (Trumpeter in front of an inn, Lakenhal Museum, Leiden ; Fishmonger and young woman, Antwerp Museum of Fine Arts ; Man drinking indoors and couple kissing, Apsley House, London)
The notched plaiceheld by the courtesan, an allusion to her sex, echoes the man's glass of wine, wine always being associated with amorous pleasures. The two objects face each otheron the same diagonal, echoing each other in their sexual allusion.
We are the spectators of a brothel scene, such as is so frequently foundin Dutch painting of the 17th^e century and especially in the work of van Mieris (Tea, Louvre Museum, for instance).
These popular scenes always carry a moral warning  - without condemning them - regarding excesses of drinking, tobacco and dealing with prostitutes.
Sometimes, the meaning of certain motifs is revealed by popular adages found in engravings of the period, such as those in the book of emblems by moralist Jacobs Cats (1636-1651) in 17thcentury Dutch culture.
These painting, a work from the worshop of Willem van Mieris, represents an important testimony of an original by the painter dated 1668, which is not located and of which other versions  are known much weaker than the present painting, sometimes reframed in a niche (New York sale, january 30, 2013) which testify to the popularity of the representation also known through engaving.
Modern framing.