Three Men Struggling in an Interior

From the Art Institute of Chicago record

Jonas Suyderhoef was a reproductive etcher and engraver who made 138 prints after more than 50 artists during his career. He is known for his achievement of chiaroscuro effects, evident here in a lively genre scene after Gerard ter Borch, one of the foremost Dutch artists specializing in scenes of everyday life and portraiture. Cards and money are strewn about as a Dutch soldier, armed with a knife, attacks another, presumably over a lost game of cards. Knocked off his stool and falling backward, the second soldier loses his hat as the attacker lunges for his neck; another soldier half-heartedly makes an attempt to restrain his comrade. As an agitated man appears on the staircase, armed with a large pair of tongs, the fate of the victim remains ambiguous.