Lucas Emil Vorsterman (Flemish, 1595-1675)
after Adam de Coster (Flemish, c.1586-1643)
Backgammon Players
INV-2139
Lucas Emil Vorsterman (Flemish, 1595-1675)
after Adam de Coster (Flemish, c.1586-1643)c. 1630
Backgammon Players
Lucas Emil Vorsterman (Flemish, 1595-1675) after Adam de Coster (Flemish, c.1586-1643) →engravingprint
Date
c. 1630
Medium
Engraving on ivory paper
Dimensions
Image: 25.5 × 34.4 cm (10 1/16 × 13 9/16 in.); Sheet, trimmed within platemark: 27.7 × 35.7 cm (10 15/16 × 14 1/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Bernard F. Rogers Collection
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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