Game of Billiards  1807

France, 1807

Boilly's painting encapsulates the era of social change in France after the Revolution of 1789, with its affirmation of new tastes and norms of behaviour. During the period of the Directory and the First Empire, billiard rooms became like clubs to which people came not only to play the game but also to meet friends, to make new acquaintances, to gossi...