The Card Sharp on the Boulevard is an oil on panel genre painting by the French artist Louis-Léopold Boilly, from 1806.[1][2] It is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, in Washington.[3]
It depicts a scene on the Boulevard du Temples in Napoleonic era Paris, with a conjuror or card sharp on the right, entertaining a crowd. A group of children and women seem to be vividly interested by the tricksters actions. The artist added a self-portrait of himself in a bicorne hat amongst the group of spectators.[4]
Voilly exhibited the painting at the Salon of 1808 at the Louvre, along with a pendant piece Young Savoyards Showing Their Marmot.[5] It was also displayed at the Salon of 1814, which was hastily organised following the Bourbon Restoration.</ref>
References
- ^ Art for the Nation: Collecting for a New Century. National Gallery of Art, 2000. p.50
- ^ Eitner p.3
- ^ https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.111638.html
- ^ https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.111638.html
- ^ Bailey p.348
Bibliography
- Bailey, Colin B. The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting. Yale University Press, 2003.
- Eitner, Lorenz. French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century: Before impressionism. National Gallery of Art, 2000.