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  Caravaggio’s
influence also extended to representations of secular scenes, his most
imitated subjects being musicians and card players. The Lute Player,
painted by Orazio Gentileschi during the second decade of the seventeenth
century, shows a young woman playing, or perhaps tuning, a lute. The open
music books and various instruments on the table suggest that a musical
performance is about to begin, but the mood is one of quiet and poetic
stillness. The solitary figure seems engrossed in her own music-making,
her head inclined intently toward her lute. Her face and back are lit
by a piercing light, which defines the texture of her crumpled shirt and
draws attention to the open lacing of her loosened bodice. The identity
of the woman is a mystery, but her disheveled dress suggests that this
may be the scene of an amorous encounter, reminding us of the traditional
association of music and love.
 The
atmosphere is far livelier in Valentin de Boulogne’s low-life scene,
Soldiers Playing Cards and Dice (The Cheats) (c.1620/1622), which
represents the trickery of a card sharp. The well-dressed young man at
the left studies his cards carefully, completely unaware that the card
sharp behind him signals his hand to his accomplice, the boy’s opponent.
The artist has deftly captured the quick exchange of glances and gestures
and at the same time expertly depicted the perils of vice, in this case
gambling. Paintings of this type often illustrate the parable of the Prodigal
Son, squandering his money and being duped by unsavory companions. Although
Valentin’s picture is not biblical, this low-life scene still carries
a moral message that would have been easily recognized in the age of the
Counter-Reformation.
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