Dirck Hals (1591–1656) - attributed to, Merry Company Playing Cards. The Harlem painter Dirck Hals was brother of the famous Frans Hals. Above all, he created Merry Companies, the gathering of young people for fun and pastime, which were very popular in the second quarter of the 17th century.In an interior, perhaps a brothel, men enjoy themselves with young women playing cards, smoking, and talking. The soldier in red clothes and boots is putting a card on the table, a woman in a blue jacket behind him puts her hand on his shoulder. But her eyes go to the woman on the other side of the table, who is holding her cards in her hand and looking at her. We may have witnessed a card game fraud. On the left in front, in an elegant and vain pose, sits a young man cross-legged on a chair, holding a pipe, and looking over his shoulder out of the picture. He wears red, patterned stockings and decorated shoes. Two other men are sitting behind the group in the center, a map hangs on the wall of the room. Oil on wood, 35 x 46 cm