Jan Steen

(Leiden 1625/26–1679)
Quarrelling backgammon players in an interior,
signed lower middle: JSteen (JS in ligature),
oil on panel, 41.5 x 53 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection of the Counts Potocki, Lancut/Geneva (an old inventory number 198 still visible in the lower right corner);
thence by descent, Collection Count Alfred Potocki (1886–1958);
sale, Fischer, Lucerne, June 1951

Literature:
K. Braun, Alle tot nu toe bekende schilderijen van Jan Steen, Rotterdam 1980, p. 134, no. 323 (mistaken for a copy after the Quarrelling Card Players in the Maximilian Speck von Sternburg Foundation, Leipzig);
K. Hommel (ed.), Maximilian Speck von Sternburg, Ein Europäer der Goethezeit als Kunstsammler, Leipzig 1998, p. 329, note 8 (repeating K. Braun)

The present painting has been recently accepted by Guido Janssen to be the prime version of a similar composition by Jan Steen in the Museum für Bildende Künste, Leipzig. This signed version has different figures, a varied setting and with backgammon players instead of card players having a brawl at an inn.

Infrared photography shows how Steen initially placed the backgammon board higher up on the floor. There are also pentimenti – changes in the composition made by the artist himself – above the cap of the man holding the stabber: this cap was originally much higher. The left foot of the man with the knife also initially had a different position. Another important feature is how the hat of the man on the right was at first rested against the wooden stairs. The artist had to fill in the background colour after painting the hat. Due to age, the fast and thinly applied layer of paint has become transparent. We now see a ‘halo’ around the hat, completely in accordance with Steen’s painting technique (see M. Bijl, The Artist’s Working Method, in: G. M. C. Jansen (ed.), Jan Steen: Painter and Storyteller, Amsterdam 1996, pp. 83–91). In an old black and white photograph conserved at the RKD, The Hague, one sees that this ‘halo’ was painted over with a thick, dark paint by a restorer who was apparently not aware of its function. A recent restoration brought these features back to light.