Artifact World Gallery
Get the iOS app

Game of Backgammon by David Teniers the Younger

David Teniers the Younger · 1645-01-01

David Teniers the Younger's "Game of Backgammon" (1645) looks like a quiet tavern scene, but it sat at the center of one of the most revealing art-market lawsuits of the 17th century.

The man seated on the left in the cream-colored jacket is the Antwerp art dealer Matthijs Musson. After Teniers delivered this painting, Musson claimed it was overpriced and refused to pay. The resulting lawsuit pulled back the curtain on how Flemish painters and dealers actually worked: Teniers charged by the figure, by the day, and by the size of the canvas.

Court records from the case survive and give us rare hard numbers. Teniers itemized his labor and his materials, and Musson countersued. The painter won, and the legal paper trail became one of the best records we have of the economics behind a 17th-century Flemish workshop.

What looks like a casual game is really a bill of sale under scrutiny.

Details

A game of backgammon, mid-play.
A game of backgammon, mid-play.
The most expensive argument in Flemish art history.
The most expensive argument in Flemish art history.
The lawsuit exposed the whole 17th-century art market.
The lawsuit exposed the whole 17th-century art market.
A dog who cares about none of this.
A dog who cares about none of this.
His upright posture against the central column creates a compositional spine and suggests the social hierarchy of the audience around the players.
His upright posture against the central column creates a compositional spine and suggests the social hierarchy of the audience around the players.
Transcript

A game of backgammon, mid-play. The most expensive argument in Flemish art history. The man in cream is the Antwerp dealer Matthijs Musson. He refused to pay the painter for this exact picture. The lawsuit exposed the whole 17th-century art market. A dog who cares about none of this.