# The House of Cards **Jean Siméon Chardin** (French, 1699–1779) probably 1737 oil on canvas overall: 82.2 x 66 cm (32 3/8 x 26 in.) framed: 107.3 x 92.1 x 10.2 cm (42 1/4 x 36 1/4 x 4 in.) Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1937.1.90. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.97.html). ## About this work A boy in a brown coat leans on a table covered in teal cloth, carefully standing a row of folded playing cards on end, with a few coins nearby and a jack of hearts showing in the open drawer. Chardin painted the subject several times in the 1730s: a house of cards, like a soap bubble, was a familiar emblem of fragility and vain effort, yet he lets the moral hover lightly behind the absorbed calm of a child at play. The soft, granular paint and quiet light against a dark background give the moment a deep stillness. _Written by Ochre Editions._ Jean Siméon Chardin painted this (probably 1737), aged 38. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. ### What you’re looking at Shown from about the lap up, a young person with brown hair and a peachy complexion faces our left in profile as he leans onto a table and sets folded playing cards up in a row in this vertical painting. Shown against a dark background, his long, brown hair curls by his ears and is pulled back with a navy-blue ribbon at the nape of his neck. He has a delicately sloping nose, his pink lips are closed, the cheek facing us is flushed, and he looks down at the tabletop under lowered lids. He wears a chestnut-brown, long-sleeved coat with a dark blue sash across his chest and tied around his waist. The white of his undershirt peeks out at the high neck and wrists, and the brick-red lining of the sleeve of his jacket rolls back at his right wrist. The wooden table is lined with teal-blue fabric on its surface, and three coins lie near his left hand, closer to us. In that hand he holds three nested, vertically folded playing cards. With his right hand he places the last in a line of ten cards, standing vertically but close together like dominoes, in a curving row in front of him. Scarlet-red diamonds and hearts and the edges of some black shapes are visible within the bent cards. A jack of hearts and a piece of paper or the back of another card sit in a drawer that opens toward us along the side of the table. The artist signed the work in dark brown paint in the lower right corner: “J. Chardin.” _Description from the National Gallery of Art._ ### How it was made - **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled. ### [Jean Siméon Chardin](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/jean-simeon-chardin) French, 1699–1779; born in Paris; died in Paris Chardin spent his life in Paris and was received into the Academy in 1728 as a painter of animals and fruit. He found his subjects in modest kitchens and households, painting still lifes and quiet genre scenes such as Soap Bubbles and The House of Cards with grainy, carefully worked paint and an air of calm concentration. In later life, as his eyesight weakened, he turned to pastel, producing searching self-portraits. _Written by Ochre Editions._ ## Facts - Type: Painting - The artist was 38 - Real size: about 32 × 26 in (82 × 66 cm). The 20 × 30 in print is close to life size. - Century: 18th century - Subjects: Card Playing, amusement - Colour: black - Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose. ## Get it - Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1309.jpg?dl=1 - Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1309/1920.jpg - Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108 - Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258 - Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148 - Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5 Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-house-of-cards-nga-97).