This composition seems to have been not only the artist’s best known work but a familiar image throughout Northern Europe. The existence of this painting had long been known from the evidence of the preparatory drawings for it and from the engraving of 1588. Most scenes of this type were depictions of the dissipation of the Prodigal Son and therefore have a moral intent even though the subject could be interpreted differently. In this instance, the subject is from the Wisdom of Solomon in the Apocrypha as part of a long passage delineating the philosophy of the ungodly.  ‘Let none of us fail to share in our revelry, everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment, because this is our portion, and this is our lot’. At the time, the extract from the Bible, inscribed on the painting itself, would have been recognised as a warning of the folly of self-indulgence. Van Mander praised Van Winghe’s fluency in the handling of figures and this composition bears out Van Mander’s comment. The concentration is on the movement of the whole with the light and shadow making a carefully composed pattern. The painting is also an early example of a fully-fledged night scene in Northern Painting and proof that the depiction of nocturnal effects pre-dated the Caravaggesques by a generation.

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