Behold the art of seduction transformed into ribald comedy! Régnier orchestrates a ballet of mischief where every gesture reveals the dissolute mores of the Grand Siècle.
The courtesan, becoming the viewer’s playful accomplice through her finger pressed to her lips, prepares to ignite more than tobacco. Her gaze, sparkling with irony, contrasts sharply with the blissful abandon of the soldier—an archetypal figure of the warrior undone by earthly pleasures.
The artist masterfully employs Caravaggesque chiaroscuro: pearlescent flesh emerges from golden shadows while blood-red and ochre-yellow fabrics pulse with theatrical sensuality. Scattered cards upon the table evoke the hazards of both gaming and love. This genre scene, oscillating between edifying morality and unabashed ribaldry, captures the libertine spirit of an age when art dared to laugh at its own conventions.
Work Details
- Sleeper Awakened by a Young Woman with Fire, Nicolas Régnier, early 1620s
- Oil on canvas, 101 × 133 cm
- Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (Gallery 1621, 17th Century)
- Collection: https://collection.nationalmuseum.se/en/collection/item/132616/
Nicolas Régnier (1591-1667) perfectly embodies the generation of Northern Caravaggisti. Born in Maubeuge, trained in Flanders, and established successively in Rome and Venice, he developed a personal style that merged the dramatic naturalism of the Lombard master with a lighter palette characteristic of Flemish painting. Working for both papal Rome and the Venetian Republic, Régnier excelled in popular genre scenes, alternating between mythological subjects and everyday vignettes with equal virtuosity.
