The Card Game
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 171 x 228 cm
Inventory numberNM 689
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum (Tessin-Fredrik I 1749)
Other titlesTitle (sv): Spelparti Title (en): The Card Game
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 229: Technical notes: The support consists of two pieces of a densely woven plain weave fabric that have been joined horizontally. The upper length is 119 cm broad and the lower one 52 cm. The sides of the painting have been trimmed to the outer edges of the current strainer. Fragments of the folded canvas are present on the upper and right edge. On the left side about 0.7–0.8 cm of putty has been attached along the edge of the lining canvas. There are visible marks from an earlier stretcher. There are cracks in the paint layer along the upper edge about 5 and 7 cm from the edge on the right and c. 3,5 cm from the bottom edge. The motif has been trimmed along all four edges, but mostly on the left where there are no visible marks from an earlier strainer. Cusping is faintly visible along the top, right and lower edge. The painting has been glue-lined and mounted on a non-original stretcher. Strips of paper cover the tacking edges and the surface of the image by about 0.5 cm from the outside edge of the painting. The preparation consists of white ground applied thickly and evenly with distinctly visible broad brushstrokes, to which the paint surface has been applied thinly. Some abrasion of outstanding paint. A very thinly applied light brown layer is visible and was probably an imprimatura. The paint layers have been applied opaquely and thinly, particularly in the background and foreground. Impasto sections form a relief in the highlights and are very well preserved in a yellow/white mixture on the hilt of the sword, the decoration on the gloves, in highlights in the garments, jug, plate and the woman’s jewellery. Highlights are also visible on the glass. The paint application is fluent in parts with clear, distinct brushstrokes using a great deal of paint on the brush but with very little binder, “scumbling technique” for details that partly cover the underlying paint layer. There are pigment changes in places where the paint layer appears to be brownish, for instance in the woman’s dress, which was earlier more distinct and colourful. The nuances in the colours of the silk fabric lining of the cloak of the man placed to the right of the image also display pigment changes. This applies in particular to the pink mixtures, “couleurs changeants” and the glazes that have faded. In the garments of the man further to the right there have been changes in the blue pigment (probably smalt) so that it now appears to be greyish. Generally many of the pigments seem to have changed which makes the painting seem pale. The painting is covered with a slightly yellowed varnish but is in good condition. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1870, 1871, 1925, 1935, 1977 1994 and 2009. Provenance: Coll. C.G. Tessin; purchased by Fredrik I for Lovisa Ulrika 1749; Lovisa Ulrika no. 98; Government purchase1777; Gustav III no. 73 (Maerten de Vos); KM 1795, no. 23; KM 1816, no. 668. Exhibited: Stockholm 1977, no 100; Stockholm 2010, no. 107. Bibliography: Sander I, pp. 28–29, p. 83 no. 98; Sander II, p. 108, no 73; Göthe 1887, p. 287; Göthe 1893, pp. 345–346; Granberg 1912, p. 89, no 322; Granberg 1930, p. 156, no 127, pp. 158–159; Granberg 1931, p. 19, no 73; Glück 1933, p. 320 (?); Paris 1977–1978; Greindl, 1944, pp. 46, 121 (?); NM Bulletin 1981, vol. 5, no 3, p. 121; NM Cat 1958, p. 218; NM Cat 1990, p. 383; Sutton 1993, p. 67; Vlieghe 1998, p. 169, no. 236. This monumental genre painting with a composition that alludes to a tradition established by Caravaggio formed part of Carl Gustaf Tessin’s extensive collection of art before it became the property of King Fredrik I in 1749. A less precise description of the painting at the time of its royal acquisition in 1749 was as follows “1 group of people playing cards”.1 Somewhat later in 1760 it was described more imaginatively in a way that has frequently been used since then: “A large painting on a canvas in which King Charles II of England is depicted playing cards with a lady as well as the Duke of Buckingham and General Monck, behind them stands a page and in front of the table there is a dog, excellently portrayed by Snyder, the rest painted by Corneille de Vos”.2 In 1887 Göthe was the first to question this vividly detailed identification of those portrayed in the work. Judging from the garments, the painting by de Vos admittedly presents us with members of the elite at cards, but they are anonymous. The game is being played in the interior of a palace with Corinthian pillars and artfully hung drapery. And that the object is money is shown by the coins on the table. We can also see that drink is being served from the carafe of wine placed on a white cloth that has been partly removed from the table. The viewer is drawn directly into the game as one of the men and a woman carefully study the hand that has been dealt. The gentlemen on the right with their ostentatious, broadbrimmed hats are waiting attentively for the couple to make their bid. We can see that they have already won a considerable amount from the coins on the table next to them. A dog in the foreground sniffs the air, scenting mischief. Playing for money was considered reprehensible when this work was painted. Extravagance and avarice were vices against which the viewer should be warned. Card games were considered a fruitless waste of time and therefore also considered reprehensible. In the inventory of the estate of Gustav III on his death in 1792 the previous attribution to Cornelis de Vos has been changed to Maerten de Vos.3 In a letter from Gerson-Gudlaugsson dated 9 June 1956 Simon de Vos is identified as the probable painter and two years later this was adopted in the catalogue of its holdings of early European painting published by the Nationalmuseum in 1958.4 In earlier texts there are references to the collaboration of Frans Snyders and Paul de Vos on the portrayal of the dog. An engraving by Alexander Voet from 1632 based on Cornelis de Vos’s painting of a game of cards contradicts, however, earlier attributions to Maerten or Simon de Vos.5 That it is the work of Cornelis de Vos can be seen from an inscription on Voet’s engraving, however, reversed in comparison to the painting in the Nationalmuseum but certain details match those in its motif. Below the motif in the engraving the following verse has been inscribed: Prodigue meurtrier de ton bien, Actif à changer tout et rien, Tu n’as de forcer ton courage. Le jeu, la femme avec le vin Te monstrent le plus court chemin Pour voir la fin de ton ouvrage. The title of the engraving is The Game of Cards or The Prodigal Son Feasting with Harlots, which suggests the kind of moralistic content that was common at the time of its production in connection with card games and other futile pastimes. The Nationalmuseum’s painting is also referred to more recently in Sutton 1993 as an original by Cornelis de Vos following in the tradition of Caravaggio and as an example of one of the few surviving genre paintings by the history painter and portraitist de Vos. This is also true of Vlieghe 1998, which also links it to the Caravaggio tradition and to the social themes used as genre motifs by Cornelis de Vos in the late 1620s. Two of these works depict card games, one a monumental genre painting entitled Partie de tric-trac (Backgammon) that belongs to the collections in Abbeville (140 x 180 cm) (Fig. 1) and one that also contains a group of people and which belongs to the collections of the Musée de Picardie, Amiens (Fig. 2). A painting based on Alexander Voet’s engraving sold at an auction in 1972 has been considered an inverted copy of Cornelis de Vos’s painting in the Nationalmuseum. As pointed out above, the Nationalmuseum’s work is reversed in relation to Voet’s engraving. Whether there were any other versions of this motif by de Vos on which the engraving could have been based is, however, not known. The painting in the Nationalmuseum has been trimmed and lined. There are a number of pigment changes that make the painting look somewhat pale. This applies, for instance, to the silk cloak worn by the man on the right where the original blue has turned into a more greyish shade. The portrayal is also rather uneven in character from a technical point of view, which may mean that a collaborator also worked on the painting together with Cornelis de Vos. KS 1 See 1749 bought from Carl Gustaf Tessin by Fredrik I for Lovisa Ulrika, fört., fol. 253r, no 127. 2 1760 Lovisa Ulrika, no 98. 3 ”Carl d.I. Stuart, Dess drottning med flere, af Martin de Vos; 2 aln. 22 tu1/2 tum hög, 3 aln. 19 tum bred”, estate inventory deed 1792, no 73. 4 Gerson-Gudlaugsson in a letter to the Nationalmuseum, 9 June 1956, NM curatorial files. 5 On the engraving to the left is the inscription ”Cornelis de Vos Pinxit” and to the right, ”Alexander Voet sculpsit et excud. Ao. 1632”. The engraving measures 34.3 x 42 cm.[End]
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