The Card Players 1646

David Teniers the Younger painted this scene of card players, but its exact date is unknown. This genre painting offers a glimpse into the social life of 17th-century Flanders, a region now part of Belgium. Teniers was the son-in-law of Jan Brueghel the Elder, and was inspired by the tradition of peasant genre painting of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. As a painter to the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, the governor of the Spanish Netherlands, Teniers also became the curator of the Archduke's art collection and painted many pictures of the collection itself, thereby developing and promoting his own artistic identity. The painting provides insights into leisure activities and social interactions of the lower classes. Works such as these challenge the social structures of the time, offering subtle commentary on everyday life. To further understand such an artwork, resources on the social history of 17th-century Flanders are essential, as are documents relating to the artist's life and career within the Archduke's court.