Card Players

Lucas van Leyden are often praised for his accomplishments in the graphic arts. However, his paintings also have merits of their own. The earliest paintings are half-length compositions of card or chess players and a few unusual biblical themes. At the end of the earlier painted series of half-length pieces comes the version of the Card Players in the Wilton House. Like the others, this painting has all the marks of that frivolous genre of the Prodigal Son and other “loose living” compositions, with half-length figures of men and women in contemporary dress gathered around a table.