Historical Characters

Daveluy was a talented craftsman who made playing cards for all budgets. The quality and variation of his work was much appreciated. The “Middle Ages” was a popular theme, which inspired the clothing, background landscapes and attributes of the court cards in many packs and suited 19th century taste. The king of clubs (Jean 1er) has tents in the background scenery on which are pennants with the text ‘Limbourg’, ‘Woeringen’ and ‘Brabant’ , referring to Jean's victory in the battle of Woeringen (1288) when he was Duke of Brabant.

Daveluy pioneered a type of “painterly chromolithography” in which colours are applied in a more fluid, painterly manner, without black outlines, imitating hand-painted effects. This was anticipating the Art Nouveau style of applied art which flourished towards the end of the 19th century. The aces are decorated with plants and shells.

Above: double-ended deck with historical characters and jacks as jesters by Daveluy, c.1850. 52 cards, chromolithography, square corners. 54x83 mm. Back pattern of blue wavy lines and stars. Source gallica.bnf.fr

Further References

Biebouw, Luc; Clays, Alex; Cremers, Filip; D'Hondt, Jan & Smet, Yvette: Daveluy, Brugge's Trots en Koninklijke Troef, Brussels Euro Joker Club, 2004.

Bibliothèque nationale de France: Jeu de cartes belge au portrait de fantaisie à deux têtes►