The Gambler (1873)

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Thu, 17/04/2025 - 00:00

Christian-Ludwig Bokelmann’s The Gambler (1873), which hangs at Salford Gallery, is a rather typical Victorian morality painting, showing the evils of a given social ill, in this case, gambling. An anxious gambler, a distraught mother, the shabbily clothed poor, a neglected child: all indicate to the viewer that risking one’s money on cards, or horses or dice is a foolish and dangerous business. The feature that most caught my attention, however, was the little girl in the painting’s foreground. Unobserved by either parent, she starts playing with some cards herself. The source of her father’s downfall and her mother’s poverty becomes her own little amusement. Doubtless, implies Bokelmann, she too will grow to carry and bear this curse. Sin begets sin, and evil is the midwife to iniquity. Our upbringings sometimes damage us, and our parents’ legacy becurses us.

From whatever our family's failings, sins and legacy, the Lord Jesus sets us free.