My prior Art posts can be found HERE.
How do we move away from being a civilization that produces art that causes comments like, “my five year old could make this,” back to being one that creates beauty and inspires deep questions? We must reject modernity and embrace tradition. To embrace tradition, we must first learn about it..
Let’s study art history together.
Die Schachspieler (The Chess Players)
| Artist | Friedrich August Moritz Retzsch |
|---|---|
| Year | 1822 |
| Medium | Oil on panel |
| Dimensions | 12 x 15.3/8in. (32.3 x 39cm.) |
| Location | E. Constantin, Paris |
In truth, Die Schachspieler (The Chess Players) is better known by the nickname “Checkmate” due in part to wide belief that the painting depicts a victory by the devil over his opponent. Retzsch was a big fan of the Germany polymath Goethe (“Faust“) and this piece – like a lot of his other work – reflected that type of imagery. The nickname also ties into another story that has surrounded the painting for over a century. It might be that the nickname – usually reflecting an imminent victory by the devil – has the situation backward, though the young man may not know it.
I will confess that I saw a version of this story on a reel that someone sent me on social media, and I was then inspired to find out more abut the piece. Here is a little more detail about the story of a world chess champion who argued with a tour guide that the player in the painting has not lost to the devil and in fact has one more move:
The “one more move” story of Paul Morphy and the Moritz Retzsch “Checkmate” painting has its source in issues of the Columbia Chess Chronicle in the fall of 1888. The popular story that the king has one more move is recounted again and again even today about a chess master (often unnamed) who “encounters” a copy of the Moritz Retzsch painting “Checkmate” (originally titled Die Schachspieler “The Chess Players”) in a museum. He closely examines the chess board and realizes the young man’s chess position is not nearly as hopeless as one might first imagine. “With the close of supper, deeply interested, Morphy approached the picture, studied it awhile intently, then turning to his host he said, modestly: “I think that I can take the young man’s game and win.” Morphy was challenged as follows: “not even you, Mr. Morphy, can retrieve that game.” Morphy replied “Suppose we place the men and try.” The anecdote continues: “A board was arranged, and the rest of the company gathered round it, deeply interested in the result. To the surprise of every one, victory was snatched from the devil and the young man saved.” THE KING HAS ONE MORE MOVE!!
Now you know, if you ever hear this “ONE MORE MOVE” story, that the unnamed chess champion is a real person, from the 19th century, named Paul Morphy.
Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 – July 10, 1884) was an American chess player. During his brief career in the late 1850s, Morphy was acknowledged as the world’s greatest chess master.
A prodigy, Morphy emerged onto the chess scene in 1857 by convincingly winning the First American Chess Congress, winning each match by a large margin. He then traveled to Europe, residing for a time in England and France while challenging the continent’s top players. He played matches with most of the leading English and French players, as well as the German Adolf Anderssen—again winning all matches by large margins. In 1859, Morphy returned to the United States, before ultimately abandoning competitive chess and receding from public view.
Due to his early exit from the game despite his unprecedented talent, Morphy has been called “The Pride and Sorrow of Chess”. This epithet has often been credited to Sheriff Walter Cook Spens, chess editor of the Glasgow Weekly Herald, but it is unclear when it first appeared in print.
Regarding all of the above, it should be noted that Retzsch did not name the painting “Checkmate.” He perhaps knew that his player had ONE MORE MOVE as he painted it.
Setting aside the interesting story that might have brought this work to your attention, it is pretty fascinating in its own right. In fact, the piece of art was the feature of an entire episode of Australian television – a Christian painting-themed show called “Masterstroke” linked below. The show has a bit of an extended sermon in the middle (fitting the theme of the painting) but the beginning and end does an excellent job explaining the details of the painting without as much sermonizing.
