This fine early 20th-century genre scene by Austrian artist Franz Giessel (1902-1982) depicts three old friends playing cards at a tavern.

On the right, a bearded gentleman rests one hand on his umbrella and looks across to another who is about to lay cards on the table. While a third gentleman, wearing a green coat, leans back and smokes tobacco. This isn’t the first time they’ve met here, and it won’t be the last.

Franz Giessel produced several scenes of this nature and, during the early part of his career, his works were inspired by those of Wilhelm Friedrich Giessel (1869-1938) who we believe was his father. Wilhelm, in turn, was inspired by 17th-century Dutch genre painting, which was popular with the rising middle classes who sought to decorate their homes with art they could relate to.

Signed in the lower left and housed within an extensively ornate gilt frame with foliate.

Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 44” x 35” / 111cm x 89cm
Year of creation: c. 1925
Condition: Minor paint losses and areas of bitumen but artwork generally presents well. Frame with some light wear.