Backgammon Players in an Interior

The present painting – large, compositionally complex, ambitiously arranged, and masterful in its colouration – is one of the masterpieces of Sweerts’ early period, and one of five works that depict men playing games. We are introduced to a shadowy interior with a beautiful black and white tiled floor by a seated lute player in the left foreground, whose figure remains in shadow. Dressed in a brown fur-lined coat, a red cloak and a hat, he quietly plays his instrument as he looks out at the viewer. In the background a curtained door gives a glimpse of a gorgeous blue sky. The main light source, though, comes from the left, and illuminates the central table scene with a stark chiaroscuro.

Around the table, two elegantly dressed young men with feathered hats play backgammon. While the man behind the table concentrates on his move, the other stares to the left, the dice waiting in his hand. A third man in a grey cloak, also at the table, watches in silence. Among the company we notice above all two attractive ladies with songbooks, one of whom looks over her shoulder to the left, where a man plays with a dog. In the right foreground, a magnificent still-life of a lute on a chair, a yellow cloak, and piled-up songbooks on a wooden box catches surprisingly bright light. Behind it, two boys fold a cloth, while in the dim background couples climb the stairs.

Given the painting’s varied composition, Sweerts admirably succeeds in unifying its atmosphere, aptly described by Sweerts expert Rolf Kultzen as an ‘expectant silence.’ Indeed, a concentrated, psychological tension can be felt, both amongst the players and the entourage.