Cardplayers in a Sunlit Room

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	Queen'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 Queen's Gallery in London.^[1]

This painting by Hooch was documented by Hofstede de Groot in 1908, who wrote; "254. THE CARD-PLAYERS. Sm. 48. ; de G. 41.^[2]

In the right-hand corner of a room with a wooden ceiling and a tiled floor a young lady and a gentleman are playing cards at a table, while two other gentlemen look on. The lady, seated on the right, is about to play a card from her hand. On her left stands a cavalier, holding a pipe in his right hand ; he wears a plumed hat and a doublet of light grey with pink ribbons ; a grey cloak hangs upon a peg to the right. To the right of the lady sits another cavalier with cards in his hand, who glances up at the gentleman. A third young man, bareheaded and seen in full light, sits, with his back half-turned to the spectator, at the left-hand front corner of the table, drinking a glass of wine ; he wears a black velvet jacket, yellow stockings, and high-heeled shoes.

By the wall to the right is a couch with red velvet cushions. The room is flooded with light from a large window, divided into four compartments, behind the group. To the left an open door looks into a courtyard, through which a servant-girl comes with a jug and some pipes. Behind her is a house with a passage leading into a garden. This is one of the finest of the master's works. " The extraordinary luminous effect which pervades this picture renders it the admiration of every beholder. It is painted with singular mastery of hand, and exhibits throughout a consummate knowledge of the principles of art " (Sm.).

Signed and dated 1658 ; canvas, 30 inches by 25 1/2 inches. Mentioned by Waagen (ii. n). Exhibited in the British Gallery in 1826 and 1827.

Sales:

• Is. Walraven, Amsterdam, October 14, 1763 (Terwesten, p. 504), No. 16 (480 florins, Van der Land).
• Nic. Doekscheer, Amsterdam, September 9, 1789 (500 florins, Van der Schley).
• P. N. Quarles van Ufford, Amsterdam, October 19, 1818 (2270 florins, Roos).
• J. Hulswit, Amsterdam, October 28, 1822 (4500 florins).
• Formerly in the Pourtales collection, according to Seguier ; see catalogue of the Buckingham Palace collection.
• In the collection of Baron Mecklenburg, from whom Sm. bought it in 1825 (for 15,000 francs or £600), selling it to King George IV. in 1826.

Now in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace. It was listed as noumber 22 in the 1885 catalogue."^[3]

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