Jesters Playing "Cochonnet"

genre

In 1866 Zamacois began to portray the jesters at the French court of king Henry III (1551-1589) at play or leisure. In this case the jesters are playing cochonnet, a French game played in pairs in which a smaller ball (the cochonnet or piglet) is thrown out as a target, followed by other different coloured boules that are supposed to land as close as possible to it. In a motley composition, the jesters - whose mission was to entertain - have left their belongings and appear idle while they dispute in a carefree manner over which boule got the closest and therefore is the winner.

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About the Artist

Eduardo Zamacois Y Zabala

1841 – 1871

Spanish painter, watercolourist. He began his studies under Joaquín Balaca (d. c. 1820) and Federico da Madrazo (1815-1894) at the Academia de Bellas Artes in Madrid, before going to Paris as a pupil of Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier. Subsequently he struck up a friendship with Mariano Fortuny. He first exhibited in Madrid at the 1860 Exposición Nacional and in Paris at the 1863 Salon. He won third-class medals in 1862, 1864 and 1867. In scenes where humour plays an important part, he revealed a somewhat affected but nonetheless solid talent for everything in the way of genre scenes, carnivals, fancy dress and masks, beaming priests, court jesters and street musicians. In a more serious vein, Zamacois y Zabala painted very dignified scenes of a monastic refectory, and a princess protected by a bodyguard and a large dog.

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