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| Title | Men Playing Bowls | |
| Collection | Calderdale MBC Libraries, Museums and Arts | |
| Artist | Attributed to Teniers, David, III (Flemish painter, 1638-1685) | |
| Date Earliest | possibly 1650 | |
| Date Latest | possibly 1670 | |
| Description | This very finely painted work has all the hallmarks of David Teniers (1610-1690), the court painter to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands. An extremely versatile painter, Teniers made a great success out of such small-scale paintings of peasant life. As the sky turns pink at dusk, four raggedly dressed peasants meet outside a cottage to have a drink and enjoy a game of bowls, after their work is done. The church in the background adds to the sense of the pastoral rhythms that dictated life in the countryside, which must have appealed to Teniers' urban patrons. | |
| Current Accession Number | 1974.777 | |
| Former Accession Number | 491a; 491 | |
| Subject | figure; everyday life | |
| Measurements | 16.8 x 20 cm.0 cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on panel | |
| Acquisition Details | Transferred from Brighouse Municipal Borough Council, 1974. | |
| Provenance | Given by William and Susan Smith to Smith Art Gallery, Brighouse, 1907. | |
| Publications | 'Smith Art Gallery: Notes on the Pictures: A Guide to the West Gallery', Brighouse News, 21 June 1907, p. 8, as A Game of Bowls by David Teniers. | |
| Notes | Reverse cc Smith Art Gallery, Brighouse label no. 491. Listed as no. 491a in 1970 manuscript catalogue. Appears to be the original of the copy recorded as School of Teniers, Peasants playing bowls, panel, 11 x 16 cms, private collection, photograph in Witt Library, Courtauld Institute negative PS B87/543. The bent figure with his arms outstretched is a common motif in Teniers' paintings of bowl players. For a comparative work see National Gallery, London, NG951: Teniers, Peasants playing Bowls outside a Village Inn, about 1660. |
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| Rights Owner | Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council Museums and Arts | |
| Author | Dr Phillippa Plock | |