Soldier looking into a Jug
The image is didactic: the figure of the drunkard, or 'Kannekijker' in Dutch, peering into the dregs of the jug is a symbol of gluttony. Superior in quality to the other Dutch genre paintings surviving from Cartwright's collection, this painting is reminiscent of work by Godfried Schalken (1643-1706) - although this pupil of Dou only started working in London in the 1690s, when the Cartwright pictures were already at Dulwich. A comparison with the work of Karel Slabbaert has also been proposed; in general, DPG407, probably painted c.1645-65, is typical of the kind of minor Dutch genre picture which a modest collector like Cartwright would have been able to buy in London.