# The Messenger [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [VERKOLJE, Johannes I]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 59 x 54 cm ## Commentary Verkolje was the last of several Delft painters to depict a patrician ideal. His pictures such as The Messenger are saturated with elite values. An officer and a lady play tric-trac in a stately room. The lady, seated on an ornately carved stool, is dressed in a striking satin dress of a type routinely found in paintings by Terborch. The table, bedecked with an extensive carpet, holds the game board as well as wine and fruit, the latter lying on an expensive silver serving tray. A messenger delivers a note to the officer; judging from the latter's facial expression, he knows that the news cannot be good. ## Related artworks - [An Elegant Couple with Musical Instruments in an Interior]() - [Dirck Evertsz van Bleyswijck at the Age of Thirty]() - [Elegant Company Making Music on a Terrace]() - [Elegant Company on a Terrace]() - [Portrait of Abraham van Bleyswijck Guilliaamszn]() - [Portrait of an Anatomist]() - [Portrait of Johan de la Faille]() - [Portrait of Johanna Anthonetta Blonk]() - [Portrait of Margaretha Delff, Wife of Johan de la Faille]() - [Portrait of Pieter van Asch]() - [Two Children]() - [Venus and Adonis]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()