David Teniers the Younger Antwerp 1610 - 1690 Brussels

The Marquis of Ely;
His (anonymous) sale, London, with Mr. Stanley, 13 May 1830, lot 64, for 140 Guineas to Emmerson;
Thomas Emmerson, 1831;
Graham Carfin (bears his label on the reverse);
Alexander Porter;
Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Lady"), London, Christie's, 1 August 1929, lot 31, for 150 Guineas to Duits;
With Gebr. Douwes, Amsterdam, 1929, from whom bought by
R. Dreesmann;
Thence by descent to his daughter, Mrs. M.A.M. Feitz-Dreesmann, Lugano;
By whom posthumously sold (to benefit the Ineke Feitz Stichting), Amsterdam, Christie's, 9 November 1998, lot 108, for 271,400 Guilders (£87,000);
With Richard Green, London, from whom bought by the present owner. 

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol III, London 1831, p. 404, no. 538.

This is one of a small number of dated works painted by Teniers after he settled in Brussels in 1656.  By circa 1670 he dated very few of his pictures, so this picture is, as Margret Klinge has observed, a key work for the chronology of his later maturity.  The compositional scheme is one he favoured from relatively early on in his career, and by the mid-1640s he was painting pictures of tavern interiors that are consistently organised in a similar way to the present picture: an excellent example is the celebrated Card Players (Le Bonnet Blanc) in a private collection.

Teniers depicts a theatrical moment, in which he deliberately involves the spectator. The man to the left, seated in a chair next to what are presumably his mason's tools, is showing his cards confidently to his opponent, but in fact he is looking directly and calmly at the viewer, tilting his cards in our direction, as if to involve us in his imminently awaited triumph.  His opponent is in a much more agitated state, as his half-raised, twisted torso and the hand starting to pull cards from his hand, as well as his animated facial expression, indicate.  Three companions look on with amusement, and in the background of the L-shaped space so often favoured by Teniers from the 1640s onwards, a woman is cooking pancakes.

Sold with the photostat certificate of Dr. Margret Klinge, dated 24 November 1998.