Fortune-Teller with Soldiers
Valentin de Boulogneabout 1620
The Toledo Museum of Art
Toledo, United States
Within a dark tavern, a group of drinkers seems caught up in a scene of fortune and deceit. A fortune teller reads the palm of a naïve young soldier, who seems to wait fearfully to hear his fate. On the left, a round robin of thievery takes place: the palm reader has just taken a coin from the soldier in exchange for her prophetic—and possibly dubious—services but is oblivious to the man in a red hat who lifts a finger to his mouth, asking the viewer to keep silent as he steals a rooster from her. He doesn’t notice that his pocket is being picked in turn. The soldier on the far right appeals directly to the viewer, as if soliciting our judgment on the questionable events taking place around the table.
- Title: Fortune-Teller with Soldiers
- Creator: Valentin de Boulogne
- Creator Lifespan: 1591/1632
- Creator Nationality: French
- Creator Gender: male
- Creator Death Place: Rome, Italy
- Creator Birth Place: Coulommiers, France
- Date Created: about 1620
- Physical Location: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
- Location Created: Rome, Italy, Europe
- Physical Dimensions: Painting: 58 7/8 × 93 7/8 in. (149.5 × 238.4 cm) Frame: 72 1/2 × 107 3/4 × 5 in. (184.2 × 273.7 × 12.7 cm)
- Subject Keywords: interior scene; man; woman; wine; helmets; feather; gaze; drinking; tavern; child; rooster; stealing; thief; pick pocket; dark; deceit; morals; sword
- Type: Paintings
- Rights: https://toledomuseum.org/collection/image-resources/
- External Link: Toledo Museum of Art
- Medium: oil on canvas
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