Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 3, 1910.djvu/411

 x ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE 397 three peasants play backgammon at a table. One stands, half-turned away, and is seen in silhouette in front of the table ; he lays his right hand on the board. The other sits behind the table, watching his adversary. The third man, standing beside him to the left, watches the game ; he is in full light. In the left foreground is a stool, with a charcoal pan and a pipe on it. In the right background a fourth peasant, with his back to the spectator, sits before the fire. Apparently signed with the monogram on the right at foot ; pane!, 6| inches by 5^ inches. Sale. Munich, November n, 1907, No. 18. 829*7. Backgammon-Players. Engraved by John Leonard Appold. 830. Peasants playing Backgammon. Five men in a room. On the left a man sits in profile to the right on a bench at the table on which lies the backgammon-board. His adversary on the right has arisen from his arm-chair, and holds spectacles to his eyes to look at the state of the game. Behind him sits a peasant looking on. Another man stands with his right foot on the bench, to the left behind the first player ; he has a pipe in his mouth. In the left upper corner of the back wall hangs a half- length portrait of a man. (Wessely also mentions a man looking through a window.) Described from a mezzotint by J. Gole (Wessely, 202). 831. Backgammon-Players at an Inn. Eight full-length figures. On the right two peasants sit facing each other at a little table on which lies the backgammon-board. The man ori the right is seen from the back in a three-quarter view and is turned to the left ; his adversary, with a pipe in his right hand, turns his head to the front, and speaks to the host who stands almost in the middle, in profile to the right with his hands behind his back. On the floor between him and the table is a little stool, on which are a jug, a charcoal pan, and a pipe. At the end of the table sits a stout peasant looking into a big jug. To the left of the host, and behind him, four other peasants are grouped round the hearth. The nearest man, seated on a three-legged stool, is seen from the back. In the background are a window and a door. By the wall to the left is a cupboard. Described from a mezzotint by J. Gole (Wessely, 203). 832. Backgammon - Players in an Arbour. Sm. 183. In an arbour outside a cottage a peasant sits on a bench, with his back to the spectator, playing backgammon on a table which is placed parallel to the lower edge of the picture. His adversary stands opposite, bending over the board. To the right of them stands a peasant in profile to the left, with his hands resting on the two right-hand corners of the table. To the left, and farther back, a man sits smoking at the open door of the cottage ; a little child stands in the doorway. Farther to the right a man holds up a glass in his right hand. On the right is a view of the village street, where three peasants stand conversing. Described from an engraving by J. de Visscher (Wessely, 51).