Art Institute of Chicago

Backgammon Players

Lucas Emil Vorsterman (Flemish, 1595-1675)

Date

c. 1630

Medium

Engraving on ivory paper

Culture

Flanders

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Adam de Coster was a prominent painter of illuminated night scenes in Antwerp around 1630, about the same time that Lucas Emil Vorsterman was engraving works after his popular contemporaries in the same city. A student of Peter Paul Rubens, Vorsterman employed a style that was originally similar to that of the Flemish master, until a falling out with Rubens and subsequent trip to England provoked him to create stronger, more stylized, Caravaggesque engravings such as Backgammon Players . Clearly influenced by De Coster’s handling of light, Vorsterman brightened the otherwise dark scene with two candles whose flames illuminate the faces of those seated around the table.

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