Around 1400, Niccolo di Pietro Gerini (1340-1414) painted “Une scene de la vie de saint Augustin.” The painting is in the Mussess des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, France.

Around 1400, Dirk van Delft (Dirc van Delf) (1365-1404) of the Netherlands painted “Royal Family Playing Chess” for the book “Tafel er Kerstenre Ghelove.” Chess is being played on a 7×7 board. The book is now in the Piermont Morgan Library in New York.

Around 1500, Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1502) painted “The Chess Players.” Di Giorgio was an Italian painter of the Sienese School.” It is not a normal chess board. The painting is now located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It came to the museum in 1943 as a bequest from Maitland F. Griggs.

Around 1500, Albertus Pictor (1440-1507) painted “Death Playing Chess.” The painting is a wall painting in the Diocese of Stockholm. It shows a 7 x 5 chessboard.

In 1508, Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533) painted “The Chess Players” in which a woman appears to be beating a man at Courier Chess on a 8 x 12 board. The painting is now located at the Staatliche Museum in Berlin, Germany.

In 1540, Paris Bordone (1500-1571) painted “Two Chess Players.” It shows two men, richly dressed in satin robes, playing chess in the foreground, before the columns of a classical portico. On the right, lesser men gamble in the background as women lounge leisurely in the landscape beyond the walls. The painting is now located in the Royal Palace in Berlin. Bordone, a Venetian painter, was trained by Titian.

In 1548, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen (1500-1559) painted “Kurfürst Johann Friedrich von Sachsen in der Gefangenschaft beim Schachspiel mit einem spanischen Bewacher” (Elector John Frederick of Saxony in captivity playing chess with a Spanish guard). John Frederick I was the head of the coalition of Lutheran princes in Germany who was captured and taken prisoner at the Battle of Muhlberg in 1547. He was originally sentenced to death, and then changed to life imprisonment. He was released from prison in 1552. The guard in the painting is a Spanish nobleman.

In 1550, Giulo Campi (1500-1572) painted “Partita a scacchi.” It shows a pretty lady playing chess with an armed and helmeted knight. The painting, oil on canvas, is now in the Museo Civico arte Moderna in Turin, Italy. (The chess board is set up wrong with the light-squared corner square on the left instead of right).

In 1552, Hans Muelich (1515-1573) painted “Albrect and Anna Playing Chess.” It is a painting of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria playing chess with his wife, Anna of Austria. Eight others of his court are observing the game. The painting was depicted on a stamp issued in Nicaragua in 1976, and on a stamp issued in Paraguay in 1978.

In 1555, Sofonisba Anguissola (1530-1625) painted “Partita a Scacchi” (The Chess Game). The painting, oil on canvas, is a portrait of the artist’s sisters, Lucia and Minerva, playing chess as her third sister, Europa, watches and an old maid servant observes.

In 1590, Carrache Ludovic (1555-1619), an Italian, early-Baroque painter, etcher, and printmaker, painted “I Giocatori de Scacci” (Two Chess Players). It shows two men playing a game of chess or solving a chess problem. It hangs in the Gemaldegalerie art museum in Berlin.

Around 1600, Le Caravage (1571-1610), painted “Chess Players.” It shows two players playing chess while a third person watches. (The chess board is set up wrong with the light-squared corner square on the left instead of right).

In 1603, Karel van Mander (1548-1606) painted “Ben Jonson and Shakespeare Playing Chess” while in Holland. It is supposedly a painting of Ben Jonson playing chess with William Shakespeare. It looks like a game of Courier chess with 8 x 10 rows.

In 1616, Jacob van der Heyden (1573-1645) made a chess engraving for Gustavus Selenus for his book, ‘Das Schach oder Koning Spiel.’

Around 1630, Alessandro Varotari, known as Il Padovanino (1588-1648) painted “Mars jouant aux echecs avec Venus” (Mars playing chess with Venus). The painting is now located in the Augusteum in Oldenburg, Lower Saxony.

In 1630, Lubin Baugin (1610-1663) painted “Nature morte avec un echiquier” (Still Life with Chessboard), sometimes called “Allegorie des cinq sens” (The Five Senses). The oil on panel painting was, until 1929, in the Collection Joseph Cremer in Dortmund. It then was in the Museum Boymans in Rotterdam (Exhibition 1930-31) and at the Galerie J Goudstikker in Amsterdam. After the exhibition in 1934 at the Orangerie, Paris, it was bought it in 1935 by the Musée de Louvre.

In 1633, Sebastien Stoskopff (1597-1657) painted “Summer or the Five Senses.” The painting includes a chess board. The painting is now in the Notre Dame Museum in Strasbourg. Stoskopff is considered one of the most important German still life painters of his time. He was murdered in a public house in Idstein. The owner of the house killed Stoskopff out of greed.

In 1650, Christian Richter (1587-1661) painted “Johann Friedrich der Grossmutge.” It shows chess being played beneath a tent in the background.

In 1661, Jan de Bray (1627-1697) made a crayon sketch call “Chessplayer.”

In 1670, Cornelis de Man (1621-1706) painted, “Les jouers d’echecs” (Chess Players). The painting, oil on canvas, shows a man and a lady playing chess. The painting is now in the Museum of Fine Arts (Szepmuveszeti Muzeum) in Budapest.

In 1686, Nicolas Arnoult (1650-1722) etched “Le Jeu des Echecs” (The Game of Chess). The medium was a colored French lithograph. Three women are looking over a game of chess.

Around 1690, Adrien van der Werff (1659-1722) painted “Couple jouant aux echecs” (Couple Playing Chess). The oil on oak panel painting id now at the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden.

In 1693, Carel de Moor (1655-1738) painted “The Chess Players.” It depicts a man moving a piece with great deliberation while his opponent leans his head on his hand with a expression of diamy. Another man holding a glass is watching the game.

Around 1750, Francois Boucher (1703-1770), etched or engraved “Les Echecs.” The etching may be of Chinese chess. He was a French painter known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes. He was perhaps the most celebrated decorative artist of the 18th century.

In 1755, Johann Baptist Jakob Raunacher (1705-1757), painted “Schachpartie” (The Chess Game). (The chess board is set up wrong with the light-squared corner square on the left instead of right).
Around 1760, Arthur Devis (1712-1787), painted “Two Men Playing Chess.”

In 1775, Jean Hubert (1721-1786) painted “Voltaire jouant aux echecs avec le pere Adam” (Voltaire Playing Chess with his father, Adam). His father was 72 years old at the time. The painting is now in the Hermitage in St Petersburg.

In 1780, Henry William Bunbury sketched “A Game at Chess” which was printed by James Bretherton. It shows two women playing chess and a young man watching.

Around 1785, Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) painted “The Auriol and Dashwood Families. Thomas Dashwood is depicted in the painting playing chess. Another painting, “Jugadando al Ajedrez” shows a father showing his son how to play chess.

In 1790, Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829) painted “Schachspiel.” Conradin of Swabia and Frederick of Baden are being informed of their execution in prison in Naples.

Around 1790, Johann Werner painted “A Portrait of a Gentleman Chess Player.”

In 1792, Louis-Leopold Boilly (1761-1845) painted “Playing Chess at the Café de Regence.” He was a French painter and printmaker who painted scenes from the French middle-class social life of his time. He painted scenes of players playing checkers, chess, and billiards.

Around 1800, George Watson (1767-1837) painted, “The Game is Mine.” A lady beats a man in chess. Watson was a Scottish portrait painer and the first president of the Royal Scottish Academy.

Around 1800, James Northcote (1746-1831) painted “the Game of Chess.” It shows two men playing chess as a third young man watches behind one of the players. The painting is now in the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Around 1800 Nevasi Lai (1760-1800) painted “Noblewomen playing chess.” The painting is in the Musee national des Arts asiatiques Guimet in Paris.

In 1803, Caroline Watson (1760-1814) sketched “The Winter’s Day Delineated No. 11.” It shows the interior of a gaming room with men and women around a card table, while a couple play chess at another table in the foreground.

Around 1810, Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) painted “Checkmate.” Two men are playing chess as a man watches a woman in the background. He also sketched “Chess Players.” It is located at the Yale Center for British Art. It was an illustration to Mrs. Robinson’s poem. The sketch is in the British Museum.

In 1815, Thomas Leeming (1788-1822) painted “Hereford Chess Society.” It shows 3 chess games being played at a chess club. Featured in the foreground is Samuel Beavan on the left, and Edwin Goode Wright on the right. Thomas copied his own painting in 1818, substituting James Buckton for Samuel Beavan and changing a few other details.

In 1818, Johann Erdmann Hummel (1769-1852) painted, “Chess Players.” The painting, oil on canvas, in the Romanticism style, is now located in the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, Germany. The persons in the painting are: architect Hans Christian Genelli (with a pipe); archeologist Aloys Hirt (making a move on the chess board); Gustav Adolf von Ingenheim (son of King Friedrich Wilhelm II and countess Voss); painter Friedrich Bury (the other chess opponent); the artist himself (at the window), Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg (son of King Friedrich Wilhelm II and countess Doenhoff).

In 1819, George Cruikshank (1792-1878) sketched “Game of Chess” for the publishing house H. Humphrey. It was a comic engraving of two aristocratic gentlemen playing chess by candlelight. In 1835, he created a color sketch similar to his 1819. Cruikshank was a British caricaturist and book illustrator who produced over 15,000 drawings during his lifetime. He did book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens.

Around 1830, James Lonsdale (1777-1839) painted “The Chess Players.” Two men play chess as two others watch. The painting is now in the Nottingham City Museum and Art Gallery.

In 1836, Adolph von Menzel (1815-1905) painted “The Game of Chess.” The painting, oil on canvas, shows two chess players playing chess in a tavern.

In 1836, George Whiting Flagg (1816-1897) painted “The Chess-Players – Check Mate.” A man and a woman play chess while a black woman is watching in the background.

In 1839, Josef Danhauser (1805-1845) painted “Game of Chess.” It is an example of Biedemeier art. The painting may depict a real event – a chess match between a banker named Escales and a Hungarian noble woman. They played because the lover of the noble woman had a big debt to this banker and that was the way she could gain back the debts – which she managed to do.

In 1840, Gisbert Fluggen (1811-1859) painted “Chess Players.”

In 1841, Alfred Joseph Woolmer (1805-1892) painted “Game at Chess.” He was a British painter whose subject matter covered the literary and historical genre.

In 1845, Martinius Rorbye (1803-1848) painted “Orientals at a Game of Chess.”

In July 1847, Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) painted “Arabes jouant aux echecs” (Arabs playing chess). According to Delacroix’s journal, he worked on this painting in July 1847 while staying at his small house in Champrosay, just outside Paris. Delacroix had visited North Africa in 1832, and the scenes that this trip had exposed him to were to have a lasting influence on his work. The painting hangs in the National Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. Delacroix visited North Africa in 1832 and he remembered the scene of Arabs playing chess in the streets. Delacroix said he used “baby’s eyelashes” to paint “Arabs Playing Chess.”

In 1849, Eugene Ernest Hillemacher (1818-1887) of France painted “Chess Players under Louis XIII.”

In 1851, Charles Thomas Burt (1823-1902) engraved “Game of Chess” which was published in The Bulletin of the American-Art-Union.

In 1856, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (1800-1882) painted “Lavater and Lessing Visit Moses Mendelssohn.” The painting is an imagined meeting among scholars and intellectual associates Moses Mendelsohn (1729-1786) and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), and the Swiss theologian Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801), at the residence of Moses Mendelssohn in Berlin. Mendelssohn is depicted on the left, wearing a red coat, and seated at a chess table in his library with Lavater. Lessing stands at the center behind the two.

In 1853, Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891) painted “The game of chess.” The painting is an example of the Realism style.

In 1854, Hendricus Johannes Scheeres (1829-1864) painted “The Game of Chess” or “Officer Nobleman.”

In 1856, Meissonier painted “The game of chess.”

In 1857, Eduard Ender (1822-1883) painted “A Game of Chess.”

In 1857, Benjamin Eugene Fichel (1826-1895) painted “Game of Chess.”

In 1858, Carl Friedrich Heinrich Werner (1808-1894) painted “The Chess Players.” It is a watercolor painting.

In 1859, Jean Leon Gerome (1824-1904) painted “Arnauts Playing Chess.” The painting is now located in the Wallace Collection in London, England.

In 1859, Alexandre Bida (1813-1895) sketched “Bashi Bazouls Playing at Chess” which appeared in the June 4, 1859 issue of the Illustrated London News.

In 1859, Charles Loring Elliott (1812-1868) painted a portrait of Paul Morphy. The portrait in oil was later exhibited by the National Academy of Design. In 1884, the portrait was presented to the Manhattan Chess Club by Thomas Frere.

In 1859, Winslow Homer (1836-1910) made a wood engraving called “Paul Morphy, the Chess Champion.” It appeared in the July 2, 1859 issue of Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing Room Companion, published in Boston.

In 1859, Johannes Vaarberg (1825-1871) painted “A Game of Chess.” It depicts two men playing chess on a bench.

Around 1860, Alessandro Guardassoni (1819-1888) painted “Autoportrait.”

Around 1860, Arthur Boyd Houghton (1836-1875) painted “The brother and sister of the artist playing chess.”

In 1860, Joseph Clark (1834-1926), a British painter, sketched “Chess Players.” He then painted “Chess Players,” sometimes called “Checkmate.” He showed the painting to the Royal Academy in London in 1860.

Around 1860, William Daniels (1813-1880) painted “The Chess Players.” It depicts a warehouseman named Mr. Breeze playing chess with his brother-in-law as Mrs. Breeze brings in some refreshments. Daniels was known as the Rembrandt of Liverpool.

In 1863, Honore Daumier (1808-1879) painted “Les Joueurs d’echecs” (The Chess Players). It shows two men sitting at a chess game, thoughtfully engaged in their play. The Realist painting, oil on canvas, is now located in the Musee du Petit-Palais in Paris, France.

In 1863, Herman Frederik Carel ten Kate (1822-1891) painted “A Game of Chess.” ten Kate was a Dutch artist renowned for his water colors.

In 1864, Charles Meer Webb (1830-1895) painted “checkmate.” Two men are playing chess in a domestic interior. He also painted Die Schachpartie. The board is set up wrong.

In 1865, Daumier painted “Les Saltimbanques au repos.”

In 1865, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), one of the finest and most distinctive of the Victorian painters, painted “The Egyptian Chess Players.” The game in Alma-Tadema’s painting is not really chess. Three people are playing some sort of board game. His painting appeared in the Dec 7, 1878 issue of Illustrated Zeitung. Alma-Tadema later named his painting “An Egyptian Game.” He sold the painting in Berlin to a Moscow banker.

In 1863, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), painted “Egyptian Chess Players.”

In 1865, Viatchelslav Schwarz (1838-1869) painted “Tsar Alexis I Playing Chess”

In 1866, Sir John Tenniel (1820-1914) sketched “Adventures of Alice” for an Alice in Wonderland book.

In 1867, Edward Harrison May (1824-1887) painted “Lady Howe mating Benjamin Franklin.”

Around 1870, James Hamilton (1819-1878) painted “A Game of Chess.” A man and a woman play chess.

In 1870, Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904) painted “Almehs playing chess in a café.” Two ladies are playing chess.

Around 1870, Paul Musurus (1840-1927) sketched “a bearded man playing chess.”

In 1871, Lucy Madox Brown (1843-1894) painted “Ferdinand and Miranda Playing Chess.” It depicts a scene from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”

In 1874, Paul Horsin-Deon drew “Le Café de la Regence” which was made into an engraving by L. Chapon.

On December 19, 1874, Harper’s Weekly had a black and white sketch called “The Chess Players.” The artist is unknown.

In 1875, Jan Baptist Huysmans (1826-1906) of Belgium painted “A Game of Chess.” Huysmans is known for his orientalist paintings.

In 1875, William Quller Orchardson (1832-1910) painted “Mrs. Charlex Moston/” She is sitting at a chess table. The board is set up wrong. It is part of the Tate collections.

In 1876, Wladyslaw Bakalowicz (1833-1903), painted “Game at Chess” showing two Cardinals playing a game of chess. Another title was “Louis XIII Inviting Cardinal Richelieu to a Game of Chess.”

In 1876, David Joseph Bles (1821-1899), a Dutch oil painter, painted three paintings called “Chess Players.” One of his chess players painting was stolen from a museum in 2000.

In 1876, Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) painted “The Chess Players.” The painting is a small oil on wood panel depicting Eakins’ father Benjamin observing a chess game between his friends Bertrand Gardel and George W. Holmes. The setting for this work is the parlor of Eakins’ home in Philadelphia. In 1881, Eakins presented the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with this painting.

In 1876, James Tissot (1836-1902) painted “young woman playing chess.”

In 1876, William Gale (1832- 1909) painted “Chess-Players.” Gale, born in London, was a history and genre painter.

In 1878, Gunnar Berndtson (1854-1895), of Finland, painted “Sakkia” (Chess), depicting a man and a woman playing chess. It is now in the Gosta Serlachius Museum of Fine Arts, Mantia.

Around 1879, Francesco Beda (1840-1900), an Italian academic classical artist, painted “Partita a scacchi” (Game of Chess). The painting, oil on canvas, shows four ladies watching a man and woman play chess. The painting was sold in 2004 and presently in a private London collection.

Around 1880, Charles Marie Lhuillier (1824-1998) painted “The Turkish Café.” Turkish men are playing a game of chess.

Around 1880, Stanislaw von Chlebowski (1835-1884) painted “Chess players, Cairo.” He was a Polish painter and was a renowned specialist in oriental themes. He attended the art academy of St. Petersburg and was later invited to serve as a royal painter in the court of Sultan Abdulaziz.

In 1880, Vaclav Brozik (1851-1901), a Czech painter who worked in the academic style, painted “Dagmar and Strange Ebbesen at the Chess Table.”

In 1881, Frederick Arthur Bridgman (1847-1928) painted “An Interesting Game,” which now hangs in the Brooklyn museum. The oil on canvas painting depicts chess play in North Africa. In actuality, the painting was created in Bridgman’s Paris studio. The painting was acquired by Brooklyn art collector George Seney in 1882. Later, it was acquired by George Pratt who gave it to the Brooklyn Museum as a gift. Bridgman became known as one of the world’s most talented “Orientalist” painters.

In 1881, Girolamo Induno (1825-1890) painted “Fernando and Iolanda Playing Chess.”

In 1881, Alessandro Sani (1856-1927) painted “A Welcome Break From a Game of Chess.” It depicts two cardinals taking a break from a game of chess as a lady pours drinks for them.

In 1882, Charles Bargue (1826-1883) painted “The Chess Game,” sometimes called “Chess on the Terrace.” Two men are playing chess on a bench as another man watches. He also painted, “The Chess Players.” Again, two men are playing chess on a bench as a third watches. Bargue created one of the most influential classical drawing courses conceived, the Bargue-Gerome Drawing Course. It was composed of 197 lithographs (invented in 1796) of precise drawings after casts, master drawings, and male models. His chess painting was his last work. Bargue, at age 57, had s stroke, was institutionalized, and soon died in a Paris insane asylum. The painting was later owned by Mrs. William H. Vanderbilt of New York. It is now in the collection of the Sordini Family.

In 1882, Luigi Mussini (1813-1888) painted “Una sfida scacchistica alla Corte del Re di Spagna.” It depicts Leonardo di Cutri defeating Ruy Lopez in a game of chess at the court of Philip II.

In 1882, Carl Zewy (1855-1929) painted “Joli coup!” or “The Chess Game,” depicting a lady playing chess with a man as another woman looks on.

In 1883, Jose Jimenez Aranda (1837-1903) painted “Une Apres-midi a Seville” (An Afternoon in Seville). It is a painting of a Moorish house in Seville. A group of gentlemen on the right are deeply absorbed in a game of chess as the women sit around on the left gossiping. Between the groups, an officer watches the ladies.

In 1884, Arturi Ricci (1854-1919) painted “The Game of Chess” and “Sala Artistca” depicting a game of chess. Ricci established himself as one of the foremost artists in Europe in the field of 18th centurt historical costume genre.

In 1885, Franz Defregger (1835-1921) painted “game of chess.”

In 1885, Hildur Nilsen Prahl (1855-1940) of Denmark painted “Skakk matt in 3 trekk” (Check mate in 3 moves), depicting two men playing chess and a third man watching.

In 1886, Richard Creifelds (1853-1939), painted “The Veterans,” which is in the Brooklyn Museum but not on view. It depicts two older men playing chess, and another older man standing and watching.

In 1886, Nils Gustav Wentzel (1859-1927) of Norway painted “Sjakkspillere” (Chess Players), depicting two men playing chess.

In 1887, Benjamin Eugene Fichel (1826-1895) painted “the chess game.”

In 1887, Carl Hepfer (1836-1897) painted “the chess players.”

In 1889, Jose Jimenez Aranda painted “El Café,” sometimes called “The Chess Party.” Chess is played in the foreground. In the background, a gentleman offers a chair to a lady. His works were on display at the World’s Columbian Exhibition in 1893. The painting is now in Madrid.

In 1889, Enrique Serra (1859-1918) of Spain painted “The Chess Players,” depicting two monks playing chess as three others look on. The painting is now in the Glasgow Museum.

Around 1890, Rudolph Ernst (1854-1932) painted “Las partie d’echecs” (The Chess Party). It depicted an Islamic scene with chess. The chess board looks like a 10×10 instead of an 8×8 chess board. The oil on wood painting is now located at the Musee des Baux-Arts in Nantes, France.

Around 1890, Johannes Hermanus van Heyden (1825-1907) painted “The Chess Game.”

Around 1890, Pieter Oyens (1842-1894) painted “the chess players.”

In 1890, Robert Bolling Brandegee (1848-1922) painted “The Chess Players.” It features a man and a woman engrossed in a game of chess. The painting is now located in the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut.

Around 1890, P.H. Andreis of Belgium painted “Cavaliers Playing Chess.”

In 1891, William Lockhart Bogle created a wood cut engraving “After Lunch in the City: A Game of Chess.” It appeared in The Graphic magazine in January, 1891.

In 1891, Frederick Judd Waugh (1861-1940), painted “Chess Players.” It depicts two ladies playing chess.

In 1892, Carl Ludwig Friedrich Becker (1820-1900) painted ““Franz, Adelheid, and the Bishop of Bamberg” which hangs in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is a scene in Goethe’s play where Adelheid and the Bishop of Bamberg play chess. Becker was president of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. In 1899, he gave the painting as a gift to Mrs. Anna Woerishoffer.

In 1892, Jehudo Epstein (1870-1946) painted “Jews Playing Chess.”

In 1893, John Haynes-Williams (1836-1908) painted “The Chess Players.”

In 1894, Jose Mongrell Torrent (1870-1937) painted “Mosqueteros jugando al ajedrez” (Musketeers Playing Chess).

In 1895, Franz von Matsch (1861-1942) painted “Leonardo da Vinci Playing Chess with his Muse.” Matsch was an Austrian painter and sculptor in the Jugendstil style.

In 1896, Ludwig Deutsch (1855-1935) painted “The Chess Game.” It depicts two Muslim players at a game of chess.

In 1897, Emile-Georges Weiss (1861-1924) of France painted “The Chess Game.” It depicts two men playing chess as two others watch.

In 1900, Max Barascudts (1869-1927) painted “Cardinals Playing Chess.” Barascudts was a well-known German illustrator and graphic artist.

Around 1900, Frederick Daniel Hardy (1826-1911) painted “Checkmate.”

Around 1900, George Goodwin Kilburne (1839-1924) painted “a hopeless case.” A man and a woman are playing chess.

Around 1900, Carlo Ferranti (1840-1908) painted “a chess problem.”

Around 1900, Ferdinand Victor Leon Roybet (1940-1920), painted “Cavaliers Playing Chess.”

Around 1900, Adrien Moreau (1843-1946) painted “Game of Chess” Around 1902, Maximo Juderias Caballero (1867-1951) painted “Una Partita de Ajedrez” (A Game of Chess). He decorated many of the palaces of Madrid with his paintings. He developed his profession as an artist during his youth in Paris, where he lived for 25 years. He developed a unique style of paintings set in 17th century costumes. He held several art exhibitions in Paris, New York, Madrid, and Barcelona. His oil on canvas chess painting was sold by Sotheby’s in London in 2000, then Christie’s in New York in 2001.

In 1902, Gerard Portielje (1856-1929) painted “The Chess Players.” Portielje was a Belgian painter of genre scenes.

In 1902, Carl Probst (1854-1924) painted “The Chess Match” depicting a boy and a girl playing chess. The board is set up wrong.

In 1902, William Orpen (1878-1931) painted “The Chess Players.” It depicted a man and a woman playing chess while being observed by another man standing. The oil on canvas painting is in the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology.
In 1903, Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944) made a pen and ink drawing called “Chess Game Lovers” or “The Greatest Game in the World – His Move.” Gibson was an American graphic artist, best known for his creation of the Gibson Girl.

In 1904, Henri Caro-Delvaille (1876-1928) painted “Ma Femme et Ses Souers” (My Wife and her Sisters), depicting a game of chess between two ladies.

In 1904, Jacques Villon (1875-1963) or Gaston Duchamp, Marcel Duchamp’s brother, painted “La partie d’echecs.” In 1920, he etched “The Chess Table.”

In 1904, Beryl Fowler (1881-1963) painted “Leaning over a Chess Table.”

In 1905, Henriette Ronner-Knip (1821-1909) painted “Last Move.” It depicts a cat and kittens playing on a chess board.

In 1906, Bernard Louis Borione (1865-?), a French painter, painted “A Game of Chess.” It depicts a Catholic Cardinal playing chess with a gentleman as a lady brings in refreshments. He also painted “Checkmate” depicting a cardinal playing an aristocrat as another man watches.

In 1907, John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) painted “Dolce far niente,” (sweet doing nothing) classified as an Impressionist painting. The painting, oil on canvas, is now located at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. Two male figures are playing a leisurely game of chess, while another one watches, and a few others are lying around near a stream, some in Turkish costumes. The painting was done on Mont Blanc in the Italian Alps.

In 1908, Emil Filla (1882-1953) painted “Joureurs aux echecs” (chess players). Filla was a Czech painter and a leader of the avant-garde in Prague. He was also an early Cubist painter.

In 1910, Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) painted “La Partie d’echecs” (The Chess Game). The oil on canvas painting, post-impressionism style, is a large canvas depicting Duchamp’s brothers playing chess in France, while their wives (some sources say sisters) are relaxing in the lush garden. The painting is now located in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. His other paintings include “Portrait de joueurs d’échecs” (1911), “Joeurs d’échecs” (1911), “Study for Chess Players” (1911), and “King and Queen surrounded by Swift Nudes” (1912). Some of his chess paintings hang in the Museum of Art in Philadelphia and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Duchamp once said, “While all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.”

Around 1910, Adolphe Alexander Lesrel (1839-1921) painted “the chess players.” He also painted “the chess game.”

In 1910, Rudolf Koselitz (1861-1948) painted “Schachspiler” (Chessplayer). It depicts two men playing chess.

In 1911, Marcel Duchamp painted “Portrait de joueurs d’echecs” (Portrait of chess players). The painting, oil on canvas, is now located in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The painting shows several figures facing the center as chess pieces float in space. This was one of several abstractions exhibited at the famed Armory Show in 1913. This painting was purchased by Arthur Jerome Eddy (1859-1920), an American lawyer, art collector, and art critic. Duchamp used chess themes in several of his paintings and collages.

In 1911, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) painted “La famille du peintre.” It depicts checkers instead of chess on a 7×11 checkerboard. He included a chessboard (checkerboard) in his 1928 painting “Femme a cote d’un echiquier.”

In 1911, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) painted “Chess.”

In 1912, Louis Marcoussis (1883-1941) painted “Still Life with a Chessboard.”

In 1913, Antti Faven (1882-1948) of Finland painted “Chess.” It depicts several strong players in the picture, including Tarrasch, Marshall, Janowsky, Burn, and Bernstein. The painting was offered as a prize at the annual Finnish chess championship. A copy of the painting hangs in the Stockholm Chess Union and a chess club in Helsinki.

In 1913, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) painted “Erich Heckel and Otto Mueller Playing Chess.” Kirchner was a German expressionist painter and one of the founders of Die Brucke or “The Bridge,” a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism. In 1933, the Nazis branded his art as “degenerate” and over 600 of his works were sold or destroyed. In 1938 he committed suicide by gunshot.

In 1914, Juan Gris (1887-1927) painted “The Chess Board.” In 1917, he painted “Chess Pieces.” The chess painting was a representation of Cubism. Gris tended to draw and paint things to do with chess from time to time.

In 1916, Jean Metzinger (1883-1956) painted “Le Soldat a la partie d’echecs” (A Soldier and a game of chess). The paintin is now in the Smart Museum of Art in Chicago. Metzinger, along with Alberg Gleizes, developed the theoretical foundations of Cubism.

In 1916, Max Oppenheimer (1885-1954) painted “The Chess-Players.” In the 1920s, he painted “Die Schachpartie” (The Chessgame). In 1942, he painted “Chess with Emanuel Lasker.” Oppenheimer helped to form the Austrian Expressionist movement in painting. In 1919, he changed his last name to Mopp.

In 1920, Joseph Walter West (1860-1933) painted “The Chess Players, or Black to Move.” It depicts a man and a woman playing chess. The painting is located at Preston, Harris Museum and Art Gallery. He designed posters for the Underground Group from 1916 to 1931.

In 1922, Frank Moss Bennett (1874-1952) painted “Chess Game with a Cardinal and Abbot.”

In 1922, Otto Moeller or Maler (1883-1964) made a wood-cut called “Joueurs d’echecs” (Games of Chess). The board is set up wrong.

In 1922, Norah Borges (1901-1998), the pseudonym of Leonor Fanny Borges Acevedo, painted “Ajedrez.” She was the sister of Argentinian writer Jorges Luis Borges.

In 1923, Alexander Christie (1901-1946) of England painted “The Chess Problem (Candlelight).”

In 1925, Jean-Paul Kayser (1869-1942) painted “Jouant aux echecs” depicting a man and a woman playing chess. The board is set up wrong.

In 1925, Filippo Pella (1886- ?) painted “Partita a scacchi.”

In 1925, Jindrich Styrsky (1899-1942) painted “Paysage d’echecs.” Styrsky was a Czech Surrealist painter.

In 1925, Willi Baumesiter (1889-1955) painted “Schach” (Chess), an oil on canvas abstract art.

In 1926, Arthur Markowicz (1872-1934) painted “Jewish Rabbis Playing Chess.”

In 1926, Floris Jespers (1889-1965) painted “The Chess Game.” Jespers was a Belgian Avant-garde painter.

In 1928, Heinrich Issel (1854-1934) painted “Rokokointerieur mit Schach spielenden Herren, von Dame und Dienstbote beobachtet.”

In 1929, John Lavery (1856-1941) painted “The Chess Players.” The oil on canvas painting depicts two girls, the daughters of the 8th Baron Howard de Walden, playing chess. The painting is now in the Tate museum. Lavery was an Irish painter known for his portraits.

In 1930, William Roberts (1895-1980) painted “Chess Players.” The sketch for the painting is called “Checkmate.” Roberts was a British Cubist painter.
In 1930, Louis Wolchonok (1898-1973), an American visual artist, painted “Chess in the Park.”

In 1932, Sir Alfred Charles Stanley Anderson (1884-1966) painted “In check: Scene at a London Eating-House.” The painting hangs in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

In 1933, Allan Douglass Mainds (1881-1945) painted “A Lesson in Chess.” It depicts a woman and a girl playing chess. The painting shows the artist’s family in their Glasgow home.

In 1935, Moshe Rynecki (1881-1943) painted “Chess Table.” It depicts two men playing chess at a chess table as a man and a woman watches. He also painted “The Chess Players.” He died in a Nazi concentration camp and most of his paintings were lost or destroyed.

In 1935, Victor Vasarely (1908-1997) painted “The Chess Board.” Vasarely, a Hungarian-French artist, was one of the founders of the op art movement.

In 1936, Nicolai Cikovsky (1894-1987) painted “Chess,” depicting two men playing chess, and another man watching. The chess board was set up wrong (black square was to the right). The painting displayed at the 1937-38 American Paintings and Sculpture Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago.

In 1936, Victor Barthe (1887-1954), a Russian visual artist, sketched “Paulo Boi and the Devil.”

In 1937, Paul Klee (1879-1940) painted “Uberschach” (The Great Chess Game). The painting, a German Expressionist style, is now located in the Kunsthaus in Zurich, Switzerland.

In 1937, Salvador Dali (1904-1989) painted “Metamorphosis of Narcisus.” The surrealistic painting is now at the Tate Museum in London, England.

In 1937, Vassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) painted “Schach-Theorie” (Chess Theory). Kandinsky is credited with painting the first abstract works.

In 1937, Andreas Paul Weber (1893-1980) used chess in his drawings to symbolize the fight for world power. Weber used the game to make conflicts between different groups clearer. He steadily created new games between literary, political and historical figures. In 1976, he painted “Don Quijote und Sancho Pansa.” It depicts the two characters playing chess.

In 1938, Werner Drewes (1899-1985) sketched “The Chess Game.” He was a founder of the American Abstract Artists.

In 1939, Julia Thecia (1896-1973) painted “Chess: White’s Move” using watercolor and charcoal on cardboard. The board is 7×8. She was a Chicago artist working in the magical realist school of modern art.

In 1940, Salvador Dali painted “Two Pieces of Bread, Expressing the Sentiment of Love.” It depicts some slices of bread, a few crumbs, and a chess pawn. It painted it after playing a chess game with Marcel Duchamp. He also designed chess sets with pieces modeled after his fingers and other objects. The set later sold for over $23,000.

In 1940, Boris Vladimirski (1878-1950), painted “The Chess Match.” It depicts two Russians playing chess.

In 1940, Henry Varnum Poor (1888-1970) painted “The Chess Game.” It depicts a boy and a girl playing chess on a peg set. Henry Poor was a grandnephew of the Henry Varnum Poor who was the founder of Standard & Poors bond rating agency.

In 1940, Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972) painted “Chessboard.” It is a nice optical illusion of a chessboard. He is one of the world’s most famous graphic artists and famous for his impossible constructions. In 1940, he created a woodcut print of a chessboard called “Metamorphosisi II.”

In 1940, Merlyn Oliver Evans (1910-1973) made an oil on canvas painting called “The Chess Players.” The painting is now in the Bolton Museum. Evans was a Welsh painter who grew up in Glasgow.

In the 1940s Earle Goodenow (1913-1985) painted “Woman and the Chessboard.”

In 1941, Alexandru Ciucurencu (1903-1977) of Romania painted “Woman With Chess Table.” It depicts a woman looking at a chess board. In 1943 he painted “The Chess Players.” It depicts a man and a woman playing chess.

In 1942, Georges Braque (1882-1963) painted “La Patience” which includes a chess board. Braque was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art movement known as Cubism.

In 1942, William F. Draper (1912-2003) painted “Chess by Lamplight.” It depicts two soldiers playing chess in the Aleutian islands next to a stove, while another soldier speaks into a field telephone.

In 1943, Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) painted “April Fool.” It is a checker game (perhaps chess), but no checkers or chess on the board. Rockwell drew it for the April 1943 cover of Post magazine.

In 1943, Kay Sage (1898-1963) painted “Near the Five Corners.” In 1944, she contributed this painting to the Imagery of Chess Exhibtion. She was an American Surrealist artist. In 1963, she committed suidice and shot herself in the heart.

In 1943, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (1908-1992) painted “La parite d’echecs” (The Game of Chess.) She was a Portuguese-French abstractionist painter. In 1949, she painted “Xeque-mate” or “Jaque Mate.”

In 1944, Leon Kelly (1901-1982) painted “The Plateau of Chess” for Julien Levy’s exhibit entitled “Imagery of Chess.” The organizers of the exhibit, held in New York City, were Julien Levy, Marcel Duchamp, and Max Ernst. Kelly was an American Surrealist.

In 1946, Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) painted “Portrait of Dr. George Ainslie Johnston.”

In 1946, Grant Stepanyan (1918-1980) painted “The Game of Chess.”

In 1946, Teofil Ociepka (1891-1978) painted “Gra w szachy.” Two men are playing chess, watched by a lady.

In 1947, Kenneth Matthews (1908-1994) painted “Checkmate.” It depicts two boys playing chess.

In 1947, Werner Drewes painted “Strangers at Chess.”

In 1949, Maria Helena Viera da Silva painted “Jacque Mate” or “Xeque-mate.”

In 1950, Eduard Khoroshy (1931- ) painted “Playing Chess in Mikhailovsky Garden.”

In 1950, William Gropper (1897-1977) painted “Chess Player.” It depicts a bald man with glasses looking at a chess position.

In 1951, Merlyn Oliver Evans (1910-1973) painted “The Chess Players.”

In 1954, Andy Warhol (1928-1987) painted “Chess Player.” It shows larger-than-life chess pieces and study of a face surrounding a young man playing chess. It is painted in a Pop Art style using ink die on paper.

In 1954, Donald Gordon Fraser (1921-2003) of Canada sketched “The Chess Player.”

In 1955, Douglass Crockwell (1904-1968) created a beer and ale ad called “Check!” depicting a man and a woman playing chess with two beer glasses in the background. Crockwell was most famous for his illustrations and advertisements for the Saturday Evening Post.

In 1956, Tatiana Martchenko (1918- ) painted “Children Playing Chess.”

In 1956, Bernard Buffet (1928-1999) of France painted “Chess Board with Playing Cards.” Buffet was a French painter of Expressionism and a member of anti-abstract art group “the Witness-Man.”

In 1957, Yoel Teneh-Tannenbaum (1889-1973) painted “Men Playing Chess.” It depicts two men playing chess and a third person watching the game.

In 1958, Ron Blumberg (1908-2002) painted “Chess Game in the Park.” Blumberg was trained at the Grande Academie Chaumiere in Paris and worked at the National Academy of Design in New York.

In 1958, James Cook (1904-1960) painted “The Chess Players.” It depicts two men playing chess as a third person watches from the side.

In 1958, Henry Schwartz (1927-2009) of Boston painted “The Chess Players.” It is on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

In 1960, Reimond Kimpe (1885-1970) of Belgium painted “De Zusjes.”

In 1963, Juliusz Studnicki (1906-1978) painted “Bishop Playing Chess with the Devil.”

In 1964, Benjamin Kopman (1887-1965) painted “Chess Players.” It depicts a man studying a position and another man on the side also studying the position. The painting is in the Brooklyn Museum. Kopman was a Russian-American painter.

In 1964, Akira Tanaka (1918-1982) painted “The Game of Chess.” The chess board is wrong with 9 files instead of 8. He was a Japanese artist working in Paris.

In 1964, Willi Neubert (1920-2011), a German painter, painted “Schachspieler” (Chessplayer). It depicts a man, smoking a cigarette, studying a position on a chessboard.

In 1966, Irving Amen (1918-2011) painted “Chess.” Amen was one of the most important printmakers in the United States. He has painted dozens of items with a chess theme.

In 1970, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) painted “Chess Plasyers.” Lawrence was an African-American painter known for his portrayal of African-American life.

In 1971, Grant Duncan (1885-1978), a British painter, painted “Nature morte avec un Matisse.”

In 1971, Minas Avetisian (1928-1975) painted “Chess Players.” He was an Armenian painter. He was hit by a car and died of his injuries.

In 1975, Luis Jacobo Alvarez Rodriguez (1930-1977) painted “Jaque Mate.”

In 1977, Antonio Bresciani (1902-1977) painted “Gioco de scacchi” (Game of Chess). It depicts two ladies playing chess.

In 1978, Sally Michel Avery (1902-2003), an American artist, painted “Chess Game.”

In 1980, Evgenia Antipova (1917-2009) painted “Boys in the Garden.” It depicts two boys playing chess.

In 1985, Frank Herbert Mason (1921-2009) painted “Chess Game.”

In 1985, Arif Telaku (1948- ) painted “The Next Move.” The chess board only has 6 files.

In 1986, Riccardo Tommasi Ferroni (1934-2000) of Italy painted “Una partita a scacchi” (A Game of Chess). It depicts two artists playing chess as another artist watches. The board is set up wrong.

In 1986, Fred Butts (1942- ) painted “Luxembourg Gardens.” It depicts two men playing chess as three other people watch the game. In 1986, he painted “Your Move.”

In 1986, Bill Jacklin (1943- ) painted “Chess in the Park” and “Chess in a Park by Night.” In 1987, he painted “Chess Players.” In 2013, he completed “Washington Square Chess Players.” Jacklin was raised in London and attended the Royal College of Art.

In 1987, Gennady Trofimovich (1937-2000) of painted “Les echecs dans le pre”.

In 1987, Pamela J. Crook (1945- ) of England painted “Chess.” In 1990, she painted “The Chess Players.”

In 1990, Samuel Bak (1933- ) began drawing lots of paintings with chess themes. The themes are usually battlefields of chess pieces and chess boards. Bak is a Jewish painter who survived the Holocaust.

In 1991, Morteza Katouzian (1943- ) of Iran painted “Chess Game.” It depicts two boys playing chess as a girl watches.

In 1996, Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) painted “Two Builders Playing Chess.”

In 1996, Keith Halonen (1946- ) painted “Square One.” The painting appeared on the cover of the December 2014 issue of Chess Life.

In 2002, Adam Lude Doering (1925- ) of Germany painted “Schach” (Chess).

In 2003, Zwy Milshtein (1934- ) painted “Igor.”

In 2003, Joseph Holston (1944- ) painted “Checkmate.” The chess board is 8×11. Holston is an African-American painter.

In 2003, Bernd Besser (1946- ) of Germany painted “Die Auseinandersetzung.” His art work has been on display at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden.

In 2004, Antonio Guijarro-Morales (1943- ) painted “Ajedrez 1982.” He is a painter and a cardiologist.

In 2006, Fernando San Martin Feliz (1930- ) painted “World Chess Champions.”

In 2006, Michael Parkes (1944- ) painted “The Chessgame” Parkes, an American-born artist living in Spain, is best knonw in the areas of fantasy art and magic realism.

In 2008, Alfredo Sosabravo (1930- ) of Cuba painted “Jugando Ajedrez.”

In 2008, Imelda Fagin (1949- ) painted “Checkmate.”

In 2010, Gillian Bull (1936- ) painted “The Chess Players.” It depicts two men playing chess. She was born in Rugby, England and currently lives on Bainbridge Island in Washington State.

In 2011, Boris Savluc (1938-2011) of Romania painted “Chess Game under the Willows.”

In 2011, Kathleen Rice (1942- ) painted “The Masquerade Conundrum.”

– Bill Wall