The Card Players

1646

Teniers achieved considerable success in seventeenth-century Europe producing tavern scenes like this one for aristocratic collectors. Although we can see the score scrawled on the tabletop, neither the expressions of the players nor the observers betray the winner. The artist clearly contrasts the two groups—–the onlookers are painted sketchily, almost as caricatures, while the players are defined in brighter light and greater detail.

Medium	oil on panel
Dimensions	12 13/16 x 16 1/16 in. (32.5 x 40.8 cm)
Object Number	1955.874
Acquisition	Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status	On View

Image Caption

David Teniers II, The Card Players, 1646, oil on panel. Clark Art Institute, 1955.874

Select Bibliography

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Twelve: Dutch and Flemish Masters. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1960. Waagen, Gustav Friedrich. Treasures of Art of Great Britain: being an account of the chief collections of paintings, drawings, sculptures, illuminated mss. &c &c. London: J. Murray, 18547. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters. Volume 9, suppl. London: Smith and Son, 1842. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Paintings on Exhibition, July 1968. Exhibition brochure. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1968. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Four & Exhibit Seven. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1958.

Provenance

Possibly Messrs. Smith, 1840; Hon. Henry Labouchere, Baron Taunton (d. 1869); possibly Hon. Mary Dorothy Labouchere, by descent (d. 1920), Quantock Lodge, Bridgewater, Somerset [P. & D. Colnaghi & Obach, London, sold to Clark, 30 December 1916]; Robert Sterling Clark; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.