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The Chess Players

Thomas Eakins American
1876
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 730
In this painting, the artist’s father watches a chess game between two friends in a Renaissance Revival parlor of a Philadelphia home. Eakins honored his father with a Latin inscription on the drawer of the chess table, which translates as “Benjamin Eakins’s son painted this in ’76.” A reproduction of a painting by Eakins’s principal French teacher, Jean-Léon Gérôme, hangs over the mantel. Eakins adhered to Gérôme’s academic lessons in his careful spatial construction and meticulous detail. In 1881 The Chess Players became the first work to be accepted by the Metropolitan Museum as a gift from a living artist.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Chess Players
  • Artist: Thomas Eakins (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1844–1916 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
  • Date: 1876
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on wood
  • Dimensions: 11 3/4 x 16 3/4 in. (29.8 x 42.6 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of the artist, 1881
  • Object Number: 81.14
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

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The Champion Single Sculls (Max Schmitt in a Single Scull), Thomas Eakins American, Oil on canvas, American
The Champion Single Sculls (Max Schmitt in a Single Scull)
Thomas Eakins
1871
Powder Horn, Horn (cow), lead, American
Powder Horn
American
18th century
The Backgammon Players, Philip Webb British, Painted pine, oil paint on leather, brass, copper, British
The Backgammon Players
Designer Philip Webb
Manufacturer Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.
Painted by Sir Edward Burne-Jones
1861
Vase, Louis C. Tiffany American, Favrile glass, American
Vase
Designer Designed by Louis C. Tiffany
Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company
1893–96
Two Pupils in Greek Dress, Thomas Eakins American, Platinum print
Two Pupils in Greek Dress
Thomas Eakins
1883

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