#CHECKMATE PAINTING RETZSCH FULL#

#CHECKMATE PAINTING RETZSCH FULL#

Born into a cash-poor yet noble family, she and her sisters were treated to a full education programme that included fine arts courses. Indeed, Ms Anguissola was quite the trailblazer of her time. The most renowned Renaissance painters: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rafael. However, his name lives on in chess circles not just for his legendary chess skills but because of the Morphy defence - a popular response to the Ruy Lopez opening. He felt the game had nothing left for him. He couldn't help himself he had bested every chess player in the US and in Europe.

That grandmaster was none other than Paul Morphy, also known as the Pride and Sorrow of Chess, a prodigy who, many believe, retired from the game far too young. This painting is remarkable not for its theme and contrasts of religious iconography but because a chess grandmaster, upon studying it, concluded that the despairing young man had one more move to make to avoid checkmate - indeed, to win the game. People seemed to believe that it conveyed sorrow at virtue lost the Devil won again! White's pawns are cherubs while Black's - the devil's pieces, are gryphons and, while Black's pieces seem to lewdly prance, White's stand piously virtuously.įor a long time, this piece was nicknamed Checkmate. In the background, an angel looks upon him in sorrow.Įven the chess pieces reflect the good-versus-evil theme. The devil appears rather smug, confident in his win while the youth, staring fixedly at the chessboard, head propped in his hand, seems on the verge of despair. It depicts a game in progress, between someone who is presumably the Devil and a refined-looking young man. His theatrical scenes were his bread and butter but another of his paintings, The Chess Players, has an equally remarkable story. Source: Wikipedia Credit: One More Move Chess Art Many maintain the nickname Checkmate is undeserved it should be called One More Move. This commission brought him fame and fortune, and he went on to other commissions, painting scenes from other plays, including works by Shakespeare. His publishing house contracted Mr Retzsch to paint 24 scenes from Goethe's Faust. Though there's little to document his rise as an artist, it's safe to say that he was sufficiently talented not only to stay at the academy for so long but also to attract the attention of the publisher and industrial pioneer FreiHerr Cotta. He became a faculty member nearly 20 years later and earned his full professorship five years after that. He started his career as a painter, etcher and draughtsman at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts in 1798, when he was 19 years old. This artist, whose full name is Friedrich August Moritz Retzsch, doesn't have near the high profile his work merits. Let's go The Chess Players, Moritz Retzsch Won't you let us know about your fav chess painting via the comments section? Thanks! Today, Superprof selects just a handful of them to talk about. Thankfully, the monumental task of researching and detailing all of those chess-themed paintings is already done. It looks back over 800 years and features works from 700 different artists, along with commentary about how both the game of chess and the art of capturing it on canvas has changed through the centuries.Īs you are reading this article, no doubt in the hopes of discovering a few paintings that feature chess, you might now worry that you'll be reading forever because 800 years worth of paintings is a lot to read about. In fact, chess is the theme of so many paintings that Czech artist Peter Raabenstein compiled them all into a book, titled Chess in Art. Could there be two, more complementary disciplines?Īs painting and chess have quite a lot in common - they both require discipline, focus and good visualisation skills, it shouldn't come as any surprise that chess features in many pieces of painted art. People are passionate about beautiful tableaux people are passionate about chess. Chess and painting are 'done' all over the world. Chess and painting have been around for a long time.

Checkmate painting retzsch