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Karel du Jardin (Amsterdam c.1626-Venice 1678)

A Muleteer and two Men playing the Game of Morra 1650-52

Oil on canvas | 52.0 x 41.8 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 406208

Middle Closet, Hampton Court Palace

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  • Born in Amsterdam, du Jardin is thought to have studied with Nicolaes Berchem and, although there is no documentation to prove it, he probably first went to Rome during the late 1640s. In 1650 he was in Paris but returned to Amsterdam in 1652 where he settled for a while, although he spent a few years from 1655 to 1658 in The Hague. In 1675 he returned to Italy in the company of Jan Reynst, the son of the famous Dutch merchant and art collector of the same name. Du Jardin’s nickname was Bokkebaert (Goatee-beard).

    This work, although created in Paris, is reminiscent of the low-life works created by the irreverent Dutch and Flemish artists in Rome (Bamboccianti), mixed with the style of Sébastien Bourdon. This French artist had a major influence on du Jardin. Bourdon had spent time in Rome and his works combined elements of genre painting with the serious classicism of Nicolas Poussin. Such a studied amalgamation of influences is typical of du Jardin, although at its core the artist’s style remained distinctively Dutch.

    A run-down tower dominates the scene, perhaps alluding to the disintegration of classical Rome. In the foreground two men, watched by a mule-driver, play Morra. The game dates back to ancient Greece and slightly resembles our ‘paper, scissors, stone’: two players simultaneously display from one to five fingers while shouting out what they guess to be the sum of both hands. While often used to settle disputes (much as tossing a coin), it also suggests time-wasting. In the baking heat of the afternoon sun, the languid attitude of the muleteer, leaning against his weary mule, indicates the idleness of the group. In contrast du Jardin fills the rest of the image with activity; a woman washes clothes, two men are caught up in carrying heavy sacks of grain down a steep staircase, and a dog looks off to the left in eager anticipation.

    Signed: lower left: 'C. du Jardin.'

    Text adapted from Dutch Landscapes, London, 2010
    Provenance

    Bought by George IV from Lafontaine, Paris, 1818; recorded in the Anti Room, ground floor, at Carlton House in 1819 (no 136); in the PItcure Gallery at Buckingham Palace in 1841 (no 92)

  • Medium and techniques

    Oil on canvas

    Measurements

    52.0 x 41.8 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)

    69.2 x 59.8 x 5.8 cm (frame, external)

  • Alternative title(s)

    Two men playing morra

    The Young Gamblers [previously entitled]