There are no fewer than five painted versions of this card game, with either two or three players, and with or without spectators, as well as numerous preparatory sketches, watercolours and related pictures. C┼╜zanne worked at length on this subject, which is a classic theme of French painting. He would have been aware of The Card Players of the School of Le Nain, which is in the mus┼╜e Granet in Aix-en-Provence. The theme was popular in the seventeenth century, but while earlier painters had sought to represent moral or anecdotal scenes ΓÇô the card-sharp, Luck or a lively tavern interior, for example ΓÇô C┼╜zanne produced a de-dramatized version of the game, which Andr┼╜ Breton described as ΓÇÿhalf tragedy, half farceΓÇÖ. The two players are facing each other across a simple wooden table, which is covered with a cloth or gaming rug. Dispassionate and silent, they look down at the cards in their large, impassive hands. C┼╜zanne had often had opportunities to observe at leisure such games of cards, which were played in the caf┼╜s of the Cours Mirabeau of Aix-en-Provence, where he would go after a dayΓÇÖs work. He does not, however, confine himself to a realistic portrayal of a card game. It is as if
