Interior With Figures

Interior with Figures

by Rembrandt - ca.1627

Oil on oak panel

(National Gallery Ireland, Dublin)

In 1904 this painting, then attributed to Willem de Poorter, was considered to show the game "La main chaude". It is a game in which sleight of hand and close attention are rewarded. One player, the "penitent," hides his face in the lap of a second (called the "confessor," a referee who monitors the game) and places his hand flat behind his back. In turn, other players slap the penitent on the hand, and he tries to identify who hit him. The player who lets himself be discovered becomes the penitent.

Later the painting was reintroduced to the oeuvre of Rembrandt and the interpretation of the scene was rejected as compared with the paintings of the subject by other Dutch artists, such as Jan Miense Molenaer.  

(Web Gallery of Art)