EGBERT I VAN HEEMSKERCK - THE CARD PLAYERS

EGBERT I VAN HEEMSKERCK (1634/35-1704)

THE CARD PLAYERS

signed E. HK
oil on panel
16.5 x 14 cm
with lacquer seal on the back: ”Ministerst[...]”.

PROVENANCE: 
comes from a Swedish private collection. 

INTRODUCTION

Quickly and loosely executed with virtuoso brushstrokes, this small little composition with Card Players is to be considered a rare gem by the Haarlem genre painter Egbert van Heemskerck the Elder (1634/35-1704).

We get to witness a scene when probably one of the players wins the match, and the atmosphere is calm and peaceful. On the table, which is a barrel, there is among other things, a pipe and a pocket watch painted with great attention for details.  

Egbert van Heemskerck the Elder was born in Haarlem to the doctor Jasper Jaspersz van Heemskerck and his wife Marytge Jansdr van Stralen. After his father's death, his mother Marytge married the art dealer Jan Wijnants who was the father of the landscape painter Jan Wijnants, making Jan and Egbert stepbrothers.

His paintings are in the collection of many major museums such as Rijksmuseum, The Louvre, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tournai, the Bowes Museum, The National Gallery of Victoria, and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

COMPARATIVE PAINTINGS:

Christie's 
BOORS PLAYING CARDS AT A TABLE
12.7 x 19 cm, signed EHK
Sold: 4613 GBP (incl buyers premium)
Read more here 

Christie's 
THE RHETORICIANS AT A WINDOW
21.4 x 16.6 cm, signed HK
Sold: 4750€ (incl buyers premium)
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Sotheby's 
A PEASANT FILLING HIS PIPE, SITTING NEXT TO A BARREL
27.9 by 21.6 cm, signed EHK
Sold: 8125€ (incl buyers premium)
Read more here