Identifying the game depicted in a painting

[jakob-...@gmx.de]

Hello everyone,

A museum I am closely associated with has this painting in its collection (see attachment). It has been determined that the scene likely does not depict a game of chess.

Could anyone tell me the name of the game being played here?

Thank you very much, and I hope you all have a great week!

Best regards,

Jakob

[Fatih Parlak]

Hi Jacob,

It is Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen’s c.1550 painting depicting John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony playing chess while in captivity in Brussels with his Spanish guardian. See Holländer, H. & Holländer, B., 2005. Schachpartie Durch Zeiten und Welten. Heidelberg: Wachter-Verlag, p. 67. 

Before he passed away, Hans told me that the set is an imaginary set, but there are records that the two played chess. The picture caught my attention because some figures wear Ottoman style turbans. 

Tschüß,

Fatih.

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[Arie van der Stoep]

Dear all,

See "Schaken,dammen, molenspel en triktrak", (Wim van Mourik, Jan de
Ruiter & Arie van der Stoep, 2025 p. 158: we see a draughts position.
In those days, the higher classes in Germany preferred draughts and a
card game above chess, see our book.

Best regards, Arie

Op ma 4 mei 2026 om 17:09 schreef Fatih Parlak <ofatih...@gmail.com>:

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[ulrich schädler]

Indeed,
they play with chess pieces (16 for each player, 6 different types of pieces), but the position seems to speak for draughts (they play only on the black squares). In the literature the game is nearly always identified as chess. But it looks as if Johann Friedrich von Sachsen and his opponent in Spanish dress play draughts using chessmen.

There is a second copy of the painting in Gotha.

Ulrich

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[Wim van Mourik]

Hi Jacob,

 

Sorry for all chess-lovers, but what you see is draughts !

 

 

https://www.bildindex.de/document/obj13850820?part=0&medium=fmc428478

 

This is the site to find your painting

 

This is one of the two versions of this painting. The other version is located in the Schlossmuseum Gotha.

 

 

Both paintings have the pieces positioned on the diagonal lines, as is customary in the game of draughts.

 

The position of the men has been reduced to a game using the formerly employed "huffing rule," which can be found in the book by Dr. Govert Westerveld:

 

La influencia de la Reina Isabel la Catholica sobre la Nueva Damka Poderosa en el Origen del Juego de las Damas y el Ajedrez Moderno*. 1997, 174

 

See the attachment

 

“Groeten van”      Wim van Mourik

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