Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/213

i JAN STEEN 189 play backgammon. Through an open door two other men are seen * in a back room. Described by Sm. from a mezzotint by J. Stolker, measuring 1 1 inches by 14^ inches ; Sm. assumed that the picture was reversed in the print. 716. THE PARROT. Sm. 5 ; W. 7. A young girl, with her back to the spectator, gives something to a parrot that looks out of a cage suspended from the ceiling. At a table to the right two men play backgammon ; a third man, with a pipe in his mouth, looks on. To the left at the fireside is a girl with oysters. Near her a boy, seated on the floor, holds a kitten on his knee and lets it lap from a spoon. In the foreground a cloak lies on an arm-chair. It is a very good picture, with delicate light and shade. Signed in full in the right-hand bottom corner ; canvas on panel, 20 inches by 16 inches. Described by Ch. Blanc. [Engraved by J. de Marc.] [Not the picture of the Lormier sale, as Sm. and W. thought ; see 719.] In the collection of A. L. van Heteren, The Hague (Hoet, ii. 459), till 1809. In the Amsterdam Museum, 1833 (Sm.) Now in the Rijlfsmuseum, Amsterdam, 1905 catalogue, No. 2245. 717. BACKGAMMON PLAYERS. Sm. 134 and Suppl. 28 ; W. 197. In a village inn two men are playing backgammon and drinking. One stands, leaning his left arm on the table. The other, wearing a big cap and spectacles, looks attentively at his opponent. A comely woman leans on the back of his chair. In the left background a peasant looks out of the window and converses with a woman in the street. It is a spirited composition ; the execution reminds one of Ostade and Dusart. Panel, 15 inches by 13 inches. Sale. Taets van Amerongen, Amsterdam, July 3, 1805, No. 42 (in florins). In the collection of Sir Hugh Campbell. In the possession of Perignon, Paris, 1830 (Sm.), valued at 1800 francs. In the Van der Schrieck collection, Louvain, 1842 (Sm.). Sale. D. van der Schrieck of Louvain, Brussels, April 8, 1861, No. 105. Now in the Schollaert collection, Louvain. 718. BACKGAMMON PLAYERS IN A TAVERN. In the centre is a group of three men at a table. One sits with his back to the hearth ; another stands opposite him in the act of throwing the dice ; the third, holding a jug, looks on. On the left sits an old man jesting with a girl who passes by him with a glass in her hand. In the background are two men, one of them beside the hearth and the other drinking. In the foreground is a little dog. Various objects lie on the floor. Signed in full ; panel, 24 inches by 26^ inches. Exhibited at the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, London, 1885, No. 1 06. Now in the collection of W. D. James, London.