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The Chess Players Cornelis de Man

Artist

Cornelis de Man Delft 1621 – 1706 Delft

Culture Netherlandish
Date ca. 1670
Object type painting
Medium, technique oil on canvas
Dimensions

97.5 × 85 cm
with frame: 115.5 x 103.5 x 9 cm

Inventory number 320
Collection Old Master Paintings
On view Museum of Fine Arts, First Floor, European Art 1600–1700 and British Painting 1600–1800, Cabinet 11

The picture apparently shows the end of a game of chess, but here the game is also a metaphor for a romantic tussle. The passion between the players is alluded to by the cat, the bellows, the lute, and the curtain drawn in front of the boxbed. The scene is a parable of how, with clever tactics, a woman can triumph over a man, who has become entangled in his emotions. In most of the genre pieces he painted from 1661 onwards, Cornelis de Man depicted wealthy citizens of Delft in their elegant homes. Following the example set by Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch, in this work the artist has structured the setting with impeccable perspective, while light plays a key role both in the plasticity of the figures and in the division of space. The somewhat theatrical gestures and the sumptuous rendering of the different materials are hallmarks of De Man’s style.

References

Pigler, Andor, Katalog der Galerie Alter Meister, 1-2. Museum der Bildenden Künste, Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest. 2, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1967, p. 411.

This record is subject to revision due to ongoing research.

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