Soldiers Playing at Cards, from "Illustrated London News"
Engraver William Luson Thomas British
Drawn on the block by Matthew Somerville Morgan American, born England
After Luis Ruipérez Spanish
Not on view
The Spanish painter Ruipérez was known for producing gently nostaglic historical genre subjects, often inspired by 17th and 18th century Dutch and French precedents. In this composition, a French soldier plays at cards with a country man in an inn, and the latter seems likely to be outwitted. Thomas's engraving, published in the "Illustrated News," reproduced a painting shown in April 1861 at The French Gallery at 120-121 Pall, a venue established by Ernest Gambart around 1854 that showed European works every Spring.
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