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Game of Checkers Artist
Louis Leopold Boilly
Artist Louis Boilly lived from 1761 – 1845, in La Basse, France.
 Self Portraits 
1795
The Family Checkers Game
in Oil, 1803. |
L’Interior d’un Grand Café Parisian
Watercolor on paper, 1815. |
Game of Draughts (Checkers) at the Lamblin Café Oil, 1820. |
Le Jeu de Dames
Checkers Game, 1836. |
- Game of checkers artist Louis Boilly
was a French painter and printmaker and
son of a wood carver, Arnould Boilly and
came from a modest family.
- Artist Louis Boilly lived in Douai until
1778, when he traveled to Arras for instruction
from Dominique Doncre in ‘trompe
l'oeil’ style of painting.
- Painted portraits for a living before
moving to Paris in 1785, where Boilly
began to paint the detailed anecdotal pictures
of fashionable Parisians.
- Between 1789 and 1791, artist Louis Boilly
created eight small scenes on moralizing
and amorous subjects for the Avignon collector
Esprit-Claude-François Calvet, including "The
Visit" (1789; Saint-Omer, Musée
Hôtel Sandelin).
- Checkers artist Louis Boilly's early
genre style produced slightly erotic social
scenes that were popular among many Parisian
patrons for its natural representation
of Parisian life.
- However, in 1794, after one of his paintings was
condemned for its
‘obscenity’ according to the social
status of the time and the artist was threatened with
imprisonment, Boilly began painting social scenes that
depicted daily life in France and he created images of
Parisian endeavors such as a simple game of checkers.
- Artist Louis Boilly became known for
his realistic and dramatic genre scenes
of Parisian life and society during the
Revolution and French Empire.
- Louis Boilly's realistic depictions in
the checkers theme from 1803 until 1836
show people in different, rather intimate
settings and moods such as a family deep
in a game at the checkerboard, or a group
of men challenging each other in a friendly
game of checkers at the local café/inn.
- Prolific painter in oils and watercolors
known for his genre scenes of Parisian
life and society during the Revolution
and the French Empire. Artist Louis Boilly
was also noted for his pioneering the use
of lithography.
- Louis Boilly exhibited
at the Salon between 1791 and 1824, where
he received a gold medal in 1804.
- From the beginning his genre subjects were extremely
popular with the public and collectors; in 1833, at a time
when his popularity was declining, he was admitted to the
Légion d'honneur and the Institut de France.
- Boilly’s artistic renditions in oils, watercolors
and lithographs reflect a time in French history with great
detail of expression, gesture, costuming, textiles and often,
a dramatic use of lighting to emphasize the subject matter and
scene, as clearly represented in the artworks depicting common
checkers games in various surroundings.
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