The House of Cards

probably 1737

Oil on canvas, 32 3/8 × 26 in. National Gallery of Art, Washington

A boy's game at a card table, with no story attached: genre painting that asks only to be looked at.

Look at

The figure is in strict profile against a plain grey-olive wall, with nothing behind to distract.
Browns and greys throughout; the blue-green table cover is the one strong colour, and the white cards catch the light.
Table edge and open drawer run flat across the bottom, parallel to the picture surface, so the space is shallow and still.

Shown at the Salon of 1737; Catherine II owned it by 1774 for the Hermitage.
Andrew Mellon bought it in 1931; it came to the National Gallery with his collection in 1937.

Genre painting: pictures of everyday life, ranked below history painting by the Academy.