Soldiers Playing Cards
Soldiers Playing Cards
- Artist
- Follower of Alessandro Magnasco
- Artist Dates
- 1667-1749
- Artist Nationality
- Italian
- Title
- Soldiers Playing Cards
- Date
- c. 1750-1800
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 58.4 x 73.7 cm (23 x 29 in)
- K Number
- K1029
- Repository
- Kress Foundation
- Notes
Provenance
(Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955] Rome-Florence); sold to Samuel H. Kress [1863-1955] on 1 June 1936; gift 1937 to the Phoenix Art Museum.
Catalogue Entry
Follower of Alessandro Magnasco
Soldiers Playing Cards
K1029
Phoenix, Ariz., Arizona Museum, since 1937.(1) Canvas. 23 X 29 in. (58.4 X 73.7 cm.). Condition not checked. The former attribution of K1029 to Magnasco(2) may have been suggested by the eccentric arrangement of some of the highlights and by the subject of military camp life, of which a few examples are to be found in Magnasco's oeuvre. It is possible to fmd tent, drum, and jugs, for example, somewhat similar to those seen in K1029, and the outstretched right leg of the soldier on the left recalls some of that artist's characteristic poses. But the types of figures and trees and the drawing of drapery folds cannot be paralleled in Magnasco. The style is so uncertain as to discourage an attempt at approximate dating; it may even be questioned whether the work is Italian. Provenance: Contini Bonacossi, Florence. Kress acquisition, 1936.
References
(1) Soldiers Playing Cards ... by Alessandro Magnasco, pamphlet published by the Arizona Museum, Mar. 12, 1938. (2) K1029 has been attributed to Magnasco by G. Fiocco, R. Longhi, R. van Marle, and A. Venturi (in ms. opinions). F. M. Perkins (in ms. opinion) finds that the attribution, while not entirely convincing, is very plausible; and W. E. Suida (in ms. opinion) says the picture is 'different in coloring as in stylization of men and landscape from all we know by this excellent Genoese master.'