DUCK, Jacob
(b. ca. 1600, Utrecht, d. 1667, Utrecht)

A Couple in an Interior with a Gypsy Fortune-Teller

1632-33
Oil on wood, 25 x 33 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This painting is the earliest of several paintings by Duck featuring gypsy fortune-tellers. In this scene, setting in a tavern as indicated by the glass of red wine to the far left, and the smoking requisites dropped onto the floor, a woman in very proper attire responds skeptically to the words of an old gypsy fortune-teller. The lady's companion wears an extravagantly feathered cap and an impatient expression.