A Game of Tric-Trac
Artist
Judith Leyster
(Dutch, 1609–1660)
Dateabout 1631
Mediumoil on panel
Dimensionspanel: 40.6 x 31.1 cm (16 x 12 1/4 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Robert and Mary S. Cushman
Object number1983.58
Label TextLeyster is the only woman painter from Holland's Golden Age whose artistic production indicates an active role in the open art market. A native of Haarlem, she painted almost all of her known works there before her marriage to another local painter, Jan Miense Molenaer. The subjects of Leyster's paintings are taken from everyday life to make the kind of pictures that were in demand as private individuals began to replace the Church and the state as artists' chief clients. Backgammon, or tric-trac, as the game was commonly called, was a popular pastime in Leyster's day. Here the artist engages the viewer through the dramatic pose of the figure on the left. The female player, who may well be a courtesan, holds a glass of wine and offers her partner a clay smoking pipe. Drinking and smoking, like tric-trac, were considered idle pursuits in seventeenth-century Holland. The artificial light, which helps to focus our attention on these "vices," also emphasizes the element of seduction.ProvenancePurchased by James Sterrett, The American Consul, Amsterdam,on behalf of his brother, Colonel J. B. Sterrett, Baltimore, MD, about 1823; purchased by Dr. William Steele Thompson, Phoenix, MD on behalf of Henry Carroll, about 1854; by descent to his grandchildren, Carroll Winchester and Mrs. George Brown; sold to Dr. William Steele Thompson; sold to Seth M. Vose, by 1897; presented to his daughter and daughter-in-law of Dr. W. S. Thompson, Mrs. Hattie Vose Thompson; to her son, William Charles Thompson, by 1931; sold to Henry Janssen, Wyomissing, PA, 1935; Helen Janssen Wetzel, Spring Township, PA; purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Robert Cushman, Worcester, MA, at Sotheby Parke Bernet sale, New York, October 9, 1980, no. 10; given to the Worcester Art Museum, 1983.On View
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