Cardplayers: three men, two seated one standing before a spread of cards on a table
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 14 × 19 in. (35.5 × 48.3 cm) Plate: 4 5/16 × 6 7/16 in. (11 × 16.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of M. Knoedler & Co
Accession Number
19.18.5
Tags
Art Historical Context
Mariano Fortuny’s 1867 etching *Cardplayers* captures a quiet moment of leisure among three men gathered around a table. Two figures sit intently studying their hands while a third stands, observing the spread of cards. Created when Fortuny was at the height of his career, the small plate—measuring just over four by six inches—demonstrates the Spanish artist’s remarkable ability to suggest atmosphere and character through economical line work. Etching allowed Fortuny to explore the play of light and shadow with great delicacy, a technique he refined during his years in Rome and Paris. Though ...
About the Artist
Mariano Fortuny, 1838–1874 (Spanish) · 1838 –1874
Spanish, 1838–1874