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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 …

…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.