Ladies and Gentlemen Playing Billiards

1756

Johann Esaias Nilson

Associated Names
Johann Esaias Nilson

Artist, German, 1721 - 1788

The image shows several individuals playing billiards in an ornate parlor. The composition includes full-body views of people around a large billiards table. One person stands in the center, holding a pool cue. Another figure lies across the table, interacting with someone leaning over with a cue. The people are dressed in 18th-century clothing, with ruffled shirts, waistcoats, long coats, and women in full-length dresses with detailed sleeves. The individuals' hair is styled according to the period, including wigs and neatly coiffed hair. The background features windows, wall panels, and decorative moldings, with an overhead light fixture above the table and a baroque-style scrollwork frame surrounding the scene.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pen and black ink with gray and black wash over traces of graphite, heightened with white gouache on laid paper, incised throughout and laid down

  • Credit Line

    Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Patrons' Permanent Fund

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 17.6 x 25.1 cm (6 15/16 x 9 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2007.111.133


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 4 December 1974, no. 5). (Paul Prouté, Paris, 1976). (Galerie Gunzenhauser, Munich) in 1976. Wolfgang Ratjen, Munich; purchased 2007 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2010

  • German Master Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, 1580 - 1900, NGA, 2010, no. 30, under nos. 4 and 20.

Bibliography

1976

  • Dessins originaux anciens et modernes, estampes anciennes du XVè siècle, estampes originales de maîres des XIXè et XXè siècles, Paul Prouté, S.A., 1974, no. 22.

1978

  • Ebertshäuser, Heidi. "Die Stiftung Ratjen, Vaduz." Graphische Kunst, Memmingen 10 (1978): 7 (reprod. p. 4).

Inscriptions

signed and dated at bottom right in black ink: Inv: et dessiné par J: E: Nilson 1756; verso, in graphite: Lavis No. 4 fond. Alien [?]/ Cadre 3821/30 x 38

Wikidata ID

Q64581953

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