Description of the picture:
Gamblers – David Teniers the Younger. 1640s Canvas, oil. 39×54
The plot and composition of the Hermitage canvas date back to the works of Adrian Brauver, who often addressed a similar topic. However, Teniers interprets this plot in his own way, preserving the grotesque interpretation of faces only for background figures (the scene with smokers on the left) and individualizing the main characters. In the picture of Teniers, the card game that his heroes are engaged in represents a waste of time. The artist connects this theme with the allegory of “Vanitas” (“Vanity of vanities”).
Canvas “Gamblers” it should be attributed to the mid-1640s, based on the artist’s characteristic work of this period of light golden color in color, as well as the stylistic proximity to the painting “The Smoker” dated by the artist."