The Gamblers

David Teniers (II), c. 1640

Two middle-class men (plainly, yet neatly dressed) and an officer (identifiable by his elegant clothing and dagger) are absorbed in their game. Two peasants look on. The man standing at the left is just about to throw the dice. Games of chance, certainly when they involved money, were denounced from the pulpit. Yet here Teniers is not passing judgment: he is simply recording the scene.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-C-300
  • Dimensionssupport: height 45.2 cm x width 59.1 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on panel

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • Men Dicing in a Tavern
    • The Gamblers
  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-C-300

  • Description

    De dobbelaars. Herberginterieur met een groepje mannen rond een tafel verwikkeld in een dobbelspel. Op tafel liggen stapels geldstukken, op de achtergrond zit een groepje boeren bij de haard. Op de voorgrond rechts liggen een jas en een hoed met pluim op een kruk en staat een kruik op de vloer.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    • mark, on the reverse, stamped: the motif of a star
    • signature, bottom left: ‘·D·TENIERS.F.’
    • mark, on the reverse, branded: coat of arms of the city of Antwerp
  • Part of catalogue


Creation

  • Creation

    painter: David Teniers (II)

  • Dating

    c. 1640

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on panel

  • Dimensions

    support: height 45.2 cm x width 59.1 cm


This work is about

  • Subject


Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    On loan from the City of Amsterdam (A. van der Hoop Bequest)

  • Copyright

  • Provenance

    …; collection Lord Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend (1785-1853), Raynham Hall, Norfolk, by June 1831{_Catalogue of pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, and English masters_ , exh. cat. London (British Institution) 1831, no. 117, ‘Interior with figures gambling - Teniers’} and perhaps by 1829;{Stacy’s description of Raynham Hall (first as in the withdrawing room ‘a very clever Interior by David Teniers, jun’, and then as in the ‘white drawing-room […] An Interior by Teniers’), see _A General History of the County of Norfolk_, 2 vols., printed by and for John Stacy 1829, I, p. 546, II, p. 1341.} his sale, London (Christie's), 11 April 1835, no. 30* (‘Teniers A Cavalier, with Boors gambling: interior’), £ 102 18 s, to the dealer John Smith;{Copy Christie’s Archive, London.} from whom, £ 129 19 s 2 p (including costs), to the dealer Albertus Brondgeest, 14 April, paid 28 April 1835 (‘An interior with men gambling & drinking by Teniers in his brown manner in a carved gilt frame’);{Smith and Successors _Day Book, 1827-1836_, II, p. 497, under _Ledger, 1829-1866_, VIII, p. 27, National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.} from whom, fl. 2,000, to Adriaan van der Hoop (1778-1854), 1835;{Van der Hoop _Lijst_, p. 13, no. 135: ‘Eene fraaije Voorstelling door D. Teniers, zynde een binnenhuis, gekocht van A. Brondgeest, welk Schildery nimmer in den handel is geweest: daar hetzelve van eene oude familie afkomstig is, fl. 2,000’.} by whom bequeathed to the City of Amsterdam, with 223 other paintings, 1854;{Van der Hoop _Taxatie_ 1854, p. 2, no. 135: ‘Eenige dobbelende persoonen, fl. 750’.} on loan from the City of Amsterdam to the museum since 30 June 1885; on loan to the Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, 2004-10{For the provenance see also A. Pollmer-Schmidt, ‘Catalogus van de schilderijen in de verzameling van Adriaan van der Hoop’, in E. Bergvelt et al. (eds.), _De Hollandse meesters van een Amsterdamse bankier. De verzameling van Adriaan van der Hoop (1778-1854)_, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Amsterdams Historisch Museum/Rijksmuseum) 2004-05, pp. 135-95, esp. p. 179, no. 183.}


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