Jan Weenix Amsterdam 1642 (?) - 1719

In the collecton of the present owner's family since before 1953.

This painting dates from the first decade of the 18th century, Weenix's most successful and accomplished period.  In works such as this, the spacious design, together with the decorative accessories of classical statuary and manicured Italianate gardens all reflect the increasing influence of French taste on Dutch art at this period.  Weenix, who was unquestionably the dominant and most celebrated Dutch exponent of this genre, adopted a compositional formula which evidently more than satisfied the requirements of his increasingly international clientele, and freely adapted or repeated motifs from one work to another.  Thus the elements of the hare, the basket of fruit and the boy carrying a basket in the present work all recur, for example, in another Gamepiece painted in 1705 and later in the collections of the Dukes of Hamilton (sold London, Christie's, 8 December 1995, lot 47). Two copies of the present composition are known: that from the Neuwstraten collection sold Paris, Drouot, 10-11 May 1904, lot 32; and another from the Lundens collection sold Amsterdam, Roos, 18 November 1913, lot 107.