| Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Pieter de Hooch |
| Year | 1658 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 77.2 cm× 67.4 cm(30.4 in× 26.5 in) |
| Location | King's Gallery, London |
| Owner | Royal Collection |
| Accession | RCIN 405951 |
Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room (1658) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch; it is an example of Dutch Golden Age painting and is now in the Royal Collection, and on display at the King's Gallery in London. [1]
Painted during the middle of his career, this painting follows the general style of De Hooch's works, mainly domestic scenes featuring multiple subjects engaging in mundanities of the time. These paintings in particular are characterised by the still atmosphere broken up by the entry of a soft, delicate light, usually through an open door or window presenting the outside world, conveying a moral message. [2] These characteristics served much in common to his contemporary Johannes Vermeer, who he was said to have influenced artistically, with the pair of them living in Delft and attending the Delft School together. [3] The evolution evident in De Hooch's body of work likely drew inspiration from fellow artists in Delft, particularly Carel Fabritius, Gerard Houckgeest, and Emanuel de Witte. These local painters, predominantly focused on architectural themes, sought to innovate illusionistic effects through the skillful application of perspective. Fabritius' "A View of Delft" shows initial explorations in this direction, while Vermeer's "A Lady at the Virginals" exemplifies the culmination of this stylistic approach of Golden Age painters.
"Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room" captures a serene yet engaging scene in a sunlit interior. The painting exemplifies De Hooch's distinctive approach, where figures, though present, assume a secondary role, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in the spatial beauty of the depicted scene. The composition subtly directs attention away from the characters, emphasizing the interplay of light and interior spaces. [4]
In this seemingly casual setting, believed to be an inn, individuals engage in leisure activities such as smoking, playing cards, and enjoying drinks. The figures, rendered in a calm and reflective mood, appear almost as if we've interrupted their game, with two men on the right possibly forming a cheating partnership. The painting skillfully captures a moment in time, with a maid holding a jug of wine crossing a courtyard, suggesting a pause in the activities as they await a refill.
Several contemporaneous works by De Hooch, such as "A Girl drinking with Two Soldiers," "A Soldier paying a Hostess," and "The Courtyard of a House in Delft with a Woman and a Child," share a similar tranquil atmosphere and attention to detail. Noteworthy are elements like playing cards, a raised glass, and a broken pipe, intentionally placed to captivate the viewer's attention and enhance the palpable atmosphere of the scene.
De Hooch's mastery of light is evident in the play of sunlight across different surfaces, particularly in the rendering of translucent curtains and glass panes. The subdued color palette against a grey background, blended with white, contributes to the mother-of-pearl tone of the painting, heightening the overall visual impact.
Despite the highly detailed finish, De Hooch employs a surprisingly broad handling of paint, especially in the depiction of figures. The tiled floor, with its squares almost matter-of-factly laid in, reveals under-drawing and compositional changes, such as the absence of a hat on the man drinking to the left. Unlike some Dutch paintings of the era, symbolism appears absent, with the painting on the wall, while prominent, seemingly devoid of hidden meanings. However, the broken pipe and playing cards invite interpretation, adding an layer to possible interpretations. [5]
In 2019, conservators discovered a fingerprint impression in the lower right corner of the painting. The print, likely a thumb, was made in wet paint prior to varnishing. Art historian Anita Jansen suggests it is almost certainly the artist's own print. Its presence in the original paint layer implies direct artist involvement, possibly resulting from de Hooch handling the canvas while the paint was still wet. [6]
Decades before the discovery of Vermeer and his relation to De Hooch in 1819, this painting was valued at 700 Guineas in the Carlton House inventory, before being sold to George IV in 1825 for £700. The painting currently resides at the Picture Gallery of Buckingham Palace, being added to the collection in 1841. [1]
Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy; at his death, his wife was left in debt.
Carel Pietersz. Fabritius was a Dutch painter. He was a pupil of Rembrandt and worked in his studio in Amsterdam. Fabritius, who was a member of the Delft School, developed his own artistic style and experimented with perspective and lighting. Among his works are A View of Delft, The Goldfinch (1654), and The Sentry (1654).
A Woman Peeling Apples is a painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Pieter de Hooch in the Wallace Collection in London.
Pieter de Hooch, was a Dutch Golden Age painter famous for his genre works of quiet domestic scenes with an open doorway. He was a contemporary, in the Delft Guild of St. Luke, of Jan Vermeer with whom his work shares themes and style. De Hooch was first recorded in Delft on 5 August 1652, when he and another painter, Hendrick van der Burgh witnessed the signing of a will. He was active in 1683, but his date of death is unknown.
The Milkmaid, sometimes called The Kitchen Maid, is an oil-on-canvas painting of a "milkmaid", in fact, a domestic kitchen maid, by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. It is in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which regards it as "unquestionably one of the museum's finest attractions".
Genre painting, a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached either individually or collectively, thus distinguishing it from history paintings and portraits. A work would often be considered as a genre work even if it could be shown that the artist had used a known person—a member of his family, say—as a model. In this case it would depend on whether the work was likely to have been intended by the artist to be perceived as a portrait—sometimes a subjective question. The depictions can be realistic, imagined, or romanticized by the artist. Because of their familiar and frequently sentimental subject matter, genre paintings have often proven popular with the bourgeoisie, or middle class.
Events from the year 1658 in art.
The Wine Glass is an oil-on-canvas painting by Johannes Vermeer, created c. 1660, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. It portrays a seated woman and a standing man drinking in an interior setting.
The Delft School is a category of mid-17th-century Dutch Golden Age painting named after its main base, Delft. It is best known for genre painting: images of domestic life, views of households, church interiors, courtyards, squares and the streets of that city. Carel Fabritius and Nicolaes Maes are seen as the originators of these localised specialties in the 1640s that were continued in the 1650s by Pieter de Hooch and Johannes Vermeer. Vermeer is the most famous of these painters today. The architectural interiors of Gerard Houckgeest, Emanuel de Witte and Hendrick Cornelisz. van Vliet are also notable contributions. Besides the genres most closely associated with Delft painters, artists in the city continued to produce still life and history paintings, portraits for patrons and the court, and decorative pieces of art that reflect more general tendencies in Dutch art of the period.
Ludolf de Jongh or Ludolf Leendertsz. de Jongh was a Dutch painter, known for his genre scenes, hunting scenes, history paintings, landscapes, cityscapes and portraits. He was further a merchant, an officer in the civil guard of Rotterdam and a schout (sheriff) of Hillegersberg. He was in the 1650s the leading genre painter in Rotterdam whose work influenced artists such as Pieter de Hooch. He was active as a staffage painter and added the figures in the works of artists such as the church interior painter Anthonie de Lorme and the landscape painter Joris van der Haagen.
Pieter Janssens Elinga (1623–1682) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, mainly of domestic interior scenes with a strong emphasis on the rectangular geometrical elements of windows, floor tiling paintings, and other elements, and a few genre figures. He also painted still lifes.
Anthonie Palamedesz., also Antonie Palamedesz, birth name Antonius Stevens, was a Dutch portrait and genre painter. He is in particular known for his merry company paintings depicting elegant figures engaged in play, music and conversation as well as guardroom scenes showing soldiers in guardrooms. Like many Dutch painters of his time, he painted portraits and still lifes, including vanitas still lifes. He further painted the staffage in a few views of the interior of churches. He played a major role in the development of genre painting in Delft in the mid 17th century.
View of Delft is an oil painting by Johannes Vermeer, painted c. 1659–1661. The painting of the Dutch artist's hometown is among his best known. It is one of three known paintings of Delft by Vermeer, along with The Little Street and the lost painting House Standing in Delft, and his only cityscape. According to art historian Emma Barker, cityscapes across water, which were popular in the Netherlands at the time, celebrated the city and its trade. Vermeer's View of Delft has been held in the Dutch Royal Cabinet of Paintings at the Mauritshuis in The Hague since its establishment in 1822.
Jacob Vrel was a Dutch, Flemish, or Westphalian painter of interiors and urban street scenes during the Dutch Golden Age (1588–1672). He was likely most active from 1654 to 1662.
Hendrick van der Burgh, was a Dutch Golden Age genre painter.
The Courtyard of a House in Delft is a 1658 painting in the National Gallery, London made in the Dutch Golden Age by Pieter de Hooch. The painting portrays domestic architecture typical of de Hooch's middle period; the details and textures of the building and courtyard are given as much or more of the artist's attention as the people. It is signed and dated to the left on the archway "P.D.H. / A 1658".
A Woman with a Child in a Pantry is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch, created c. 1658. It is part of the collection of the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam.
A Dutch Courtyard (1658–1660) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch. The original resides in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. A later, altered replica also exists, part of the collection of the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague.
A Man with Dead Birds, and Other Figures, in a Stable is an oil-on-oak painting by the Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch. It is an example of Dutch Golden Age painting and is now in the National Gallery, London
