English Chess Forum

250 paintings from different periods in history. Very interesting. Click to enlarge.
http://www.jmrw.com/Chess/Tableau_echecs/index.htm

/Mats

I'm getting a sense of déjà vu...

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3439

But the more people that see those paintings, the better!

And this is a better location for stuff on the history of chess paintings.

Mats Winther wrote:250 paintings from different periods in history. Very interesting. Click to enlarge.
http://www.jmrw.com/Chess/Tableau_echecs/index.htm

/Mats

A wonderful display of chess themed paintings, but the Egyptians did not play chess, and the Lady Howe would not have played Benjamin Franklin in France.

Not necessarily. Franklin was the American ambassador to France between 1776 and 1785. Also this from Wikipedia (which I accept isn't always to be trusted):

At the beginning of the American War of Independence, Howe was known to be sympathetic to the colonists.[1] He had known Benjamin Franklin,[1] who was a friend of his sister, a popular lady in London society. Howe had written to Franklin in a peacemaking effort. Because of his known sentiments, he was selected to command in America. He was joined in a commission with his brother, General Sir William Howe, head of the land forces, to attempt a reconciliation.[1] A committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress conferred with Howe in September 1776, but nothing came of it.

Mike Truran wrote:Not necessarily. Franklin was the American ambassador to France between 1776 and 1785. Also this from Wikipedia (which I accept isn't always to be trusted):

At the beginning of the American War of Independence, Howe was known to be sympathetic to the colonists.[1] He had known Benjamin Franklin,[1] who was a friend of his sister, a popular lady in London society. Howe had written to Franklin in a peacemaking effort. Because of his known sentiments, he was selected to command in America. He was joined in a commission with his brother, General Sir William Howe, head of the land forces, to attempt a reconciliation.[1] A committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress conferred with Howe in September 1776, but nothing came of it.

Benjamin Franklin played a series of chess games with Caroline Howe, the sister of Admiral Howe, at her London home in December, 1774.
The games were a subterfuge for a series of secret meetings with Admiral Howe, attempting to reconcile the American Colonies and Great Britain.
Franklin was appointed the United States Ambassador to France, on 14 September, 1778.

September 1776 per Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Not that it matters that much more than two centuries on.