Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/220

196 JAN STEEN SECT. and look on. The hostess marks up the score on a slate suspended from a tree. In the courtyard of the tavern some peasants are playing skittles. In the rendering of sunlight this carefully painted picture recalls the work of A. van Ostade, but it is not so harmonious in colour. Canvas, i8|- inches by 24 inches. Described by Waagen (ii. 137). In the collection of H. A. J. Munro, 1833 (Sm.) ; but not in the sale, London, June i, 1878. Possibly identical with 742/7. 734. Card-Players. Soldiers and girls are amusing themselves in various ways. In the centre are card-players at a table. Panel, 23 inches by 33 inches. Sale. Hopken-Melenberg and others, Berlin, May 6, 1892, No. 146. 734/7. An Interior. With a card-player and other figures. Panel, i8J inches by i6| inches. Sale. Donaldson and others, London, July 6, 1901, No. 90. 735. A LANDSCAPE WITH SKITTLE - PLAYERS.- A figure dressed in yellow and brightly illumined arrests the attention. One man is in the act of throwing a ball ; another man seems to be losing, and stands in an anxious posture with his hand to his head. The figures are very large in relation to the landscape ; the composition differs entirely from that of Lord Ashburton's picture (737). Now in the collection of the widow Pauwels, nee Allard, Brussels. 736. Peasants playing Skittles. Sm. Suppl. 96; W. 136. In the centre of a meadow, with houses on either side and a wood at the back, three peasants are playing skittles. One man, with his shirt-sleeves turned up, is throwing the ball. A man, who looks like a country priest, watches the game. On the left a woman with a child on her lap sits on the ground, selling nuts ; near her is a man dressed in white. Somewhat farther back a woman is carrying water to a pleasantly situated cottage. Among numerous men lying on the ground is the artist himself, smoking his pipe. At the back of them is a tavern. Beyond is a wooded fence, near which stand three peasants. A man on horseback bows to a poor man. Panel, 26 inches by 34 inches. Exhibited at the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, 1882, No. 224. In the collection of Charles Heusch (Sm.). In the possession of the dealer Nieuwenhuys, London, 1841. In the collection of Lady Williams, London. Sale. Sir W. R. Williams, London, November 28, 1903 (378, Agnew). Now in the collection of Hugh P. Lane, Dublin. 737. SKITTLE-PLAYERS (The Game at Ninepins). Sm. 33 ; W. 63 and 438. In front of a tavern in a wood nine peasants are