Oil painting entitled 'Backgammon Players', attributed to Pieter Codde. Dutch School, mid 17th century.

Three backgammon players, two sitting, and one standing, at a table which holds the backgammon board, a clay pipe and smoking paraphernalia including a brazier and a paper with loose tobacco

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend, 1868

Historical significance: Previously attributed to a follower of Anthonie Palamedes, this work appears closer to the style of his contemporary Pieter Codde (1599-1678). Codde was a Dutch painter and poet who worked primarily in Amsterdam. He may have studied with Frans Hals and a portrait painter, perhaps Barent van Someren (1572/3–1632) or Cornelis van der Voort (1576–1624), as most of his earliest works, from the period 1623–7, seem to be portraits. He was particularly productive in the 1620s and 1630s, painting mainly interior genre scenes. He is best known as a painter of interiors with numerous figures, often either elegant ladies and gentlemen in merry or musical companies, tric-trac players or soldiers in guardrooms. The theme of the Merry Company, in which he particularly specialized, became increasingly fashionable in the first half of the 17th century, especially in Haarlem and Amsterdam. His palette is characterized by cool grey-brown tones, and he employed a fine, rather dry brush technique. He often reused the same compositions and motifs. He produced many paintings with the theme of backgammon for example and the figure supporting his chin on his hand reappears in several works (such as Louvre MNR. 452). He generally grouped men and women informally and dedicated a significant amount of attention to painting the details of their fashionable clothing.

Genre paintings such as this often represented the lower classes of society, especially peasants, but as the decades progressed such pictures evolved to included more elevated classes and became especially popular in Holland in the the 17th century. These pictures often depict scenes of everyday life set in domestic interiors or in the countryside. Scholars continue to debate whether they bear a metaphorical meaning and hidden messages, or just feature a close depiction of contemporary events. In both case they are associated with health, pleasure and liberty.

Originally catalogued as the work of Palamedes (1893), Kauffmann (1973) suggested this work was rather a late 17th century work somewhat in his style. In February 2010, Fred Meijer (verbal communication) has suggested , based on photographs only, an attribution to Pieter Codde.

Three backgammon players, two sitting, and one standing, at a table which holds the backgammon board, a clay pipe and smoking paraphenalia including a brazier and a paper with loose tobacco. Previously attributed to a follower of Anthonie Palamedes, this work appears closer to the style of his contemporary Pieter Codde (1599-1678). Codde was a Dutch painter and poet who worked primarily in Amsterdam. He was particularly productive in the 1620s and 1630s, painting mainly interior genre scenes. He is best known as a painter of interiors with numerous figures, often either elegant ladies and gentlemen in merry or musical companies, tric-trac players or soldiers in guardrooms. The theme of the Merry Company, in which he particularly specialized, became increasingly fashionable in the first half of the 17th century, especially in Haarlem and Amsterdam. His palette is characterized by cool grey-brown tones, and he employed a fine, rather dry brush technique. He often reused the same compositions and motifs. He produced many paintings with the theme of backgammon for example and the figure supporting his chin on his hand reappears in several works (such as Louvre MNR. 452). He generally grouped men and women informally and dedicated a significant amount of attention to painting the details of their fashionable clothing.

1365-1869