A Kortegaardje: a woman flirting with an ensign in an inn

The present picture, dating from circa 1640, is characteristic of the artist in the concentrated range of colours 'varying from ochre to olive-green and from light-brown to silver-grey' and in the strong beam of light against a dark background. Based in Utrecht, Duck was the foremost representative of the kortegaard genre in Dutch painting in the 17th Century. His work is notable for the prominence bestowed on women, through which was added an amourous connotation. In civic military companies, the ensigns were chosen for their handsome appearance; the post was held for two years. The couple in the present picture is repeated in the picture in the J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky (N. Salomon, op.cit, p.47, fig.19). Similar couples appear in the pictures in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (N. Salomon, op.cit, p.47, fig.20) and in a private collection (N. Salomon, op.cit, p.47, fig.22).