A Woman Playing the Theorbo-Lute and a Cavalier

A Woman Playing the Theorbo-Lute and a Cavalier is an oil on wood painting by Dutch artist Gerard ter Borch the Younger, created c. 1658. The work depicts a young woman playing a theorbo while her lover looks on. The painting is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.

Description
Ter Borch's painting portrays a scene in which a young woman plays a theorbo-lute (a stringed instrument) while her suitor sits nearby. The man is a cavalier, a 17th-century soldier, and he is seen to be sitting atop a cloth-covered table. His sword is laid flat to his left, while a songbook (a common lovers' gift during the time period) rests nearby. A watch, possibly representing temperance or the fleeting nature of the affair, lies near the other objects.