Guardroom Scene

In seventeenth century Dutch painting guardroom scenes became a popular subject with several specialists active in this domain: Jacob Duck, Pieter Codde, Willem Duyster, and above all Anthonie Palamedesz.. Most Dutch guardroom scenes show soldiers either killing time (playing cards or dice, or smoking a pipe, sleeping or drinking), flirting with prostitutes, inspecting their weapons or showing their booty to a superior. The present painting shows an officer paying a visit to his men, who are playing cards in their guardroom.