Arcadópolis
A Game of Tric-Trac
Judith Leyster, c. 1631
What you see
Three players gather around a table with a game board. On the left, a young man in a blue jacket and a wide-brimmed black hat turns toward us with a smile as he moves a piece. Behind, another man, in a pale plumed hat, rests his head on his hand. On the right, a woman in a cap, white blouse and red sleeves has a glass before her.
The scene emerges from the darkness thanks to a warm light that falls on the faces, the board and the fabrics. The shimmering blue of the jacket and the red of the sleeves are the brightest colors. Look for the small flame beside the glass and the round pieces stacked along the edge of the board.
About Judith Leyster
Judith Leyster was a Haarlem painter who in 1633 became a master in the city's Guild of St Luke, where she was then the only woman, which allowed her to run her own studio and take pupils. She painted musicians, drinkers and merry scenes with loose, lively brushwork, and signed with a monogram and a star, a pun on her surname, which refers to the “lodestar”. After her death she was forgotten and her pictures were credited to others, above all Frans Hals, until in 1893 the scholar Cornelis Hofstede de Groot recognized her monogram on seven paintings.
More by Judith Leyster
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