A Game of Tric Trac

Judith Leyster's "Game of Tric-Trac" (c. 1630) at the Worcester Art Museum depicts a popular Dutch board game being played in what appears to be a tavern setting. Leyster's genre scenes capture the social rituals of Dutch leisure culture with an observational acuity rare among her contemporaries. Leyster's genre scenes demonstrate her mastery of the Haarlem tradition, applying confident brushwork and warm chiaroscuro influenced by Honthorst and the Utrecht Caravaggisti. She became a master of...

The figures concentrated around the game board are rendered with lively brushwork, the warm interior lighting and the players' engaged expressions creating an intimate scene of competitive social interaction.