![]() ![]() May 6, 1837, which gave the following sketch (photography was in it's infancy at that time) and an involved explanation: "Ī great article appeared in The Saturday Magazine, Volume 10. He said he was often pursued by dark, haunted by melancholy forebodings, desponding over himself and his art "and he resolved to create an angel for himself, which would smile upon him out of heaven"' (Mrs Jameson, Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad, London, 1834, p. Offering some insight into the brooding personality of Retzsch is Mrs Jameson, an English commentator who, upon visiting the artist's studio in Dresden in 1833, wrote: 'I saw in Retzsch's atelier.the head of an angel smiling. This advance is rhymed by the approach of the spider towards Man which, with its power to spin a fatal web, symbolises Satan's mission to ensnare the believer. Such terrible intent is repeated throughout the black pieces, who advance, seemingly without respite, on the virtuous white set. The figure immediately in front of the King tramples on a cross, alluding to Satan's avowed aim of destroying Christ's church, while the griffin-headed monster to his left raises his left arm as though in peace meanwhile hiding a vicious stiletto behind his back. The black King's modelling echoes the mantle and cap of his master, urging his soldiers onwards. The chess pieces themselves represent the struggle. Her dark expression, however, hints that no intervention is planned and Satan's seat - his throne -boasts the sinister decoration of a fierce, snarling lion's head,its feet resting on the classic momento mori, a grizzly skull, indicating the likely outcome of the match. Man is watched over by his guardian angel. Satan, resplendent in his green cape and a red-feathered cap, glowers across at Man, whose soft, classical features are buried deep in troubled contemplation. The two principal protagonists in this drama face one another across the board. The position of the chessboard, to take just one element, placed squarely on the lid of a sarcophagus, leaves the spectator in no doubt as to this particular endgame. Die Schachspieler, while not an explicitly Faustian episode, is full of Faustian flavour in its rich allegory of the Devil's battle for a man's soul. Lot Notes Moritz Retzsch, like many artists of his generation, was fascinated by Faust. Constantin, Paris, acquired from the above in 1898, and thenceby descent. Monsieur Chappuis, a gift from the above. "Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch (1779-1857) Die Schachspieler oil on panel 12 x 15.3/8in. We'll start with the painting itself and a wonderfully brief description provided by ArtFact in the auctioning off of the original: Galbreath and Miron Hazelton.īefore getting into the controversy, let's examine the subject of the Morphy Anecdote - an 1831 painting by Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch entitled, Die Schachspieler, Les joueurs d'échecs or The Chess Players. The contentious correspondence included such laudable chess luminaries as John A. Frith (I had written on this anecdote in Paul Morphy - Back in New Orleans). In 1888 there was an ongoing controversy over a Paul Morphy anecdote provided by Gilbert R. ![]() Die Schachspieler and The Morphy Anecdote, Pt.
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