Card Players by Candlelight

Private collection

genre

In the absence of signed and documented works by De Coster, all attributions have been based on Lucas Vorsterman's engraving after a lost original entitled The Trick-trak player. The present painting, which was also engraved by Vorsterman, shares a number of similarities with this key, lost work. Both compositions are multi-figural and lit by candlelight, with a figure in the foreground partially shading the light source.

About the Artist

Adam de Coster

1586 – 1643

Flemish painter. Little is known about his life and training. He became a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp in 1607; it is assumed that he travelled to Italy in his formative years. Here he would have been in touch with the works of Caravaggio and his followers, which would have such an important influence on his style and subject matter. De Coster had strong personal ties with Italy as some of his close relatives emigrated to Italy where they worked as painters. He spent his active career in Antwerp where he seems to have enjoyed a high reputation as a prominent member of the Antwerp Caravaggisti. He is mainly known for his genre scenes with strong chiaroscuro effects. He was called a Pictor Noctium, i.e. a 'Painter of Nights' because of his preference for tenebrist scenes.

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