The Card Sharp on the Boulevard
Louis-Léopold Boilly·1806
Historical Context
Boilly's Card Sharp on the Boulevard from 1806 depicts a Parisian street scene where a card sharp plies his trade among the crowd — one of his characteristic observations of urban social life's shadier dimensions. Boulevard culture was central to Boilly's subject matter: the new broad streets of Haussmann's Paris had not yet been built, but the existing boulevards were already the primary theaters of Parisian public life, their sidewalks and cafés populated with the full range of social types from aristocrats to working people to the petty criminals and entertainers who exploited the crowd. His card sharp is observed with the same equanimity as his honest citizens, the documentary eye making no moral distinction.
Technical Analysis
Boilly's oil on wood panel demonstrates his extraordinary precision in rendering multiple figures at small scale, with each face individually characterized and the complex crowd scene organized with clarity and narrative wit.
Provenance
Marie-Caroline-Ferdinande-Louise de Naples, duchesse de Berry [1798-1870];[1] (her sale, Bellavoine and Margny, Paris, 28 January 1848, no. 80, as _Le diseur de bonne aventure_). Forestier; (estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 11-15 December 1871, no. 6). Duc de Persigny, Château de Charamande; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 15 March 1876, no. 4, as _Une scène de boulevard_); purchased by Gillet. (Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 13-14 December 1943, no. 68, as _Scenes des boulevards_). (Sale, Sotheby's Monaco, 23 February 1986, no. 310, as _Scène de Boulevard_). (Sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, New York, 27 January 2000, no. 67); purchased 11 February 2000 through (Agnew's Inc., London) by NGA. [1] The Duchesse's coat of arms, with inventory no. 23, are on the reverse of the panel.
