Chapter 1 of 6
A Trap Set in Silence
Four people sit around a table, and three of them are quietly working to ruin the fourth. Georges de La Tour painted this in Lorraine in the late 1630s, turning an old tavern morality tale into something cool, hushed, and almost geometric. A young heir has wandered into a game with a glittering courtesan, her maid, and a cardsharp.
Wine, money, and seduction the three classic snares of the prodigal son close in around him. Look at how no one quite meets another's eye, and yet every glance is part of the same conspiracy.
