“Two elderly men, in old-fashioned dress, play chess, seated at a small table, lit by two guttering candles. One moves, the other watches with intense concern. Each has a deeply interested spectator leaning on the back of his chair. All four are caricatured. A small dog lies on the ground. A large fire burns in the grate (right). Over the chimney-piece is the lower part of a whole length portrait. On the wall behind the players are three pictures: one of a man playing ninepins outside a rustic inn, with a donkey looking over a paling, is flanked by a picture of a horse and by a landscape.”–British Museum online catalogue.
- Printmaker: Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878, printmaker.
- Title: Game of chess [graphic] / design’d by an amateur ; etch’d by G. Cruikshank.
- Publication: [London] : Pubd. by Thos. McLean 26 Haymarket, [not before 1 August 1835]
814.03.06.01+ Impression 2
Acquired November 2019
A scene in a sitting room, a man in a fit of anger kicks over a chair and table set with tea; a pitcher, cups and saucers, tongs and other tableware are in flight or shattered on the floor. The man holds his wig in his left hand as a woman looks on with fear. Two cats fight in front of a fireplace above which hangs a seascape with rough waters and lightening. On the back wall another painting shows a man standing over a woman.
