Artwork
Tric Trac Players
Tric Trac Players is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist David Teniers the Younger. It dates from 1641 and is held in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Berlin.
About this work
Overview
David Teniers the Younger painted Tric Trac Players in 1641, presenting a domestic interior where a group of men engages in a board game. Executed in oil, the work belongs to the genre‑painting tradition and is part of the collection of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.
Subject & Meaning
The scene captures a popular pastime of the seventeenth‑century Low Countries: the game of Tric Trac, a precursor of modern backgammon. Seven figures occupy the cramped space, some concentrating on the board, others conversing, illustrating a range of attitudes toward leisure and social interaction.
Technique & Style
Teniers employs a muted palette and modest lighting from a single window to model the figures and furnishings. The composition is tightly arranged, with the low table as a focal point and incidental objects—jugs, a bowl, a dog—adding realism and texture to the interior.
History & Provenance
Since its creation, the painting has remained in European collections, eventually entering the holdings of Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie. Its provenance reflects the continued appreciation of Teniers’ depictions of everyday life.
Context
In the mid‑1600s, genre scenes depicting games and tavern life were popular among Flemish artists, serving both as documentation of contemporary customs and as moral commentary on the balance between work and recreation.
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Artist & collection
Artist
David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, and artist.
