The Dutch painter and drawing artist Jan Miense Molenaer was born at the beginning of the 17th century into a poor tailor’s family. He had five brothers, two of whom also chose the artistic path: Nicholas became a landscape painter, Bartholomeus painted scenes of everyday life.
Jan Molenaer studied at the studio of the portrait painter Frans Hals and at first worked in the manner of the genre painters of this school. There he met his future wife, Judith Leyster, one of the most famous Dutch artists of the Golden Age.
The couple worked most of their lives in Haarlem, but in the middle of the 17th century they moved to Amsterdam. The art of Jan Molenaer’s wife had a noticeable influence on his style of painting. The artist created mainly canvases with scenes from rural and peasant life, often with a touch of humor and a clear, warm color palette.
Molenaer also worked in other genres: he painted portraits, allegorical paintings, family, theatrical and musical scenes. His religious paintings often feature peasant characters, which migrated there from the genre works.
The picture “Game of Cards” shows a typical episode in a tavern. The foreground depicts two people playing. The rest of the figures are painted in almost the same gray-brown tone, blending in with the dull interior, except for the brick shade of the man’s pants in the foreground, which is echoed by the color of the cap of the character sitting by the keg behind him. On the whole, Molenaer depicts the clothing of the main characters with great attention to the texture and color of materials, and the glitter and drapery of the fabrics look very realistic.
The man sits facing the viewer, as if inviting them to join in the game. His cards are open; judging by his contented and relaxed appearance, he is about to win. The woman, on the contrary, is tense, she anxiously awaits the outcome.
Such scenes, filled with irony, were primarily of a moralistic nature in Dutch art: card playing, like any gambling game, was perceived as a sin in Protestantism. Exhortation combined with satire is the main tone of such scenes. At the same time, by educating the viewer, Molenaer engages them in the action: it is as if the character invites the viewer to sit down at the gaming table. This allows the audience to enter into a dialogue with the artist and his characters — one of the favorite techniques in Dutch art.
Jan Molenaer studied at the studio of the portrait painter Frans Hals and at first worked in the manner of the genre painters of this school. There he met his future wife, Judith Leyster, one of the most famous Dutch artists of the Golden Age.
The couple worked most of their lives in Haarlem, but in the middle of the 17th century they moved to Amsterdam. The art of Jan Molenaer’s wife had a noticeable influence on his style of painting. The artist created mainly canvases with scenes from rural and peasant life, often with a touch of humor and a clear, warm color palette.
Molenaer also worked in other genres: he painted portraits, allegorical paintings, family, theatrical and musical scenes. His religious paintings often feature peasant characters, which migrated there from the genre works.
The picture “Game of Cards” shows a typical episode in a tavern. The foreground depicts two people playing. The rest of the figures are painted in almost the same gray-brown tone, blending in with the dull interior, except for the brick shade of the man’s pants in the foreground, which is echoed by the color of the cap of the character sitting by the keg behind him. On the whole, Molenaer depicts the clothing of the main characters with great attention to the texture and color of materials, and the glitter and drapery of the fabrics look very realistic.
The man sits facing the viewer, as if inviting them to join in the game. His cards are open; judging by his contented and relaxed appearance, he is about to win. The woman, on the contrary, is tense, she anxiously awaits the outcome.
Such scenes, filled with irony, were primarily of a moralistic nature in Dutch art: card playing, like any gambling game, was perceived as a sin in Protestantism. Exhortation combined with satire is the main tone of such scenes. At the same time, by educating the viewer, Molenaer engages them in the action: it is as if the character invites the viewer to sit down at the gaming table. This allows the audience to enter into a dialogue with the artist and his characters — one of the favorite techniques in Dutch art.
