Game Piece 1637 - 1674

Johannes Lingelbach painted this scene, titled Game Piece, in oils on canvas sometime in the mid-17th century. It depicts a hunting party by a lake, a pursuit enjoyed by the European aristocracy. Paintings of hunting scenes were in vogue at this time. The Dutch Republic where Lingelbach was working was a highly stratified society. Hunting, in particular, was not only a sport, but a way of demonstrating power. Land ownership and the right to hunt on it were politically charged. The art market itself was also highly stratified. Genre scenes like this were regarded as lower in status than history paintings. But they still found a ready market among wealthy merchants. Lingelbach was also a dealer in paintings. His familiarity with the art market would have allowed him to tailor his scenes to the prevailing tastes of the time. Art historians can draw on estate inventories and auction catalogs to understand the economics of art at the time, and gain insight into the social conditions that shaped artistic production.