The Card Players
In a work reiminscent of Dutch genre paintings, two men play cards at a table as a third arbitrates. At left, a Black servant seated next to a stove clasps his hands. The print was published by the American Art-Union, a New York institution that boasted nearly nineteen thousand subscribers at its height in 1849-50. For an annual fee of five dollars, each member received a large, finely engraved, print and was entered in a lottery to win original artworks which were exhibited at the Art-Union's Free Gallery. Aimed at educating the public about contemporary American art, the group's distribution network reached members in every state. This contributed to the creation of a national market for landscapes and genre paintings. The system flourished for a limited period, however, with no lottery taking place in 1851, the year that the Art-Union issued this work as part of a set of small engravings titled "Gallery of American Art, No. I."
Artwork Details
- Title: The Card Players
- Series/Portfolio: Gallery of American Art, No. I
- Engraver: Charles Burt (American (born Scotland), Edinburgh ca. 1823–1892 Brooklyn, New York)
- Artist: After Richard Caton Woodville (American, Baltimore, Maryland 1825–1855 London)
- Publisher: American Art-Union, New York (1838–51)
- Printer: J. Dalton (American, active 1840–53)
- Date: 1851
- Medium: Etching and engraving on steel
- Dimensions: image: 7 5/16 x 10 in. (18.5 x 25.4 cm)
sheet: 14 3/8 x 18 7/16 in. (36.5 x 46.8 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1993
- Object Number: 1993.1083(6)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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