Players - Sepia Saturday

I could not find suitable photos amongst my collection this week so had to seach the web. I came up with groups of players but none with beer or cards. I settled for chess instead.

Egyptian Chess Players 1879

This painting is by Lawrence Alma-Tadmena (1831-1912), a Dutch-British painter, draughtsman, etcher and illustrator.

My second group is more modern and shows The Chess Players, a bronze sculpture by Lloyd Lillie in John Marshall Park in the Judiciary Square neighbourhood of Washington DC. The E Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse is in the background.

The Chess Players - by AgnosticPreachersKid 14/04/2010

( Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 unported license)

My next group are alive and engrossed in their game.

Chess players in a park, Kiev - by Robert Broadie 02/07/2006

( Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 unported license)

Perhaps you prefer dice to chess. This fresco from Pompeii shows Roman dice players.

Dice Players

Roman fresco from the Osteria dell Via di Mercurio (VI 10,1.19, room b) in Pompeii

(Source: Filippo Coarelli (ed): Pompeji. Hirmer, Munchen 2002 ISBN 3-7774-9530-1 p146)

When I saw this fresco it reminded me of something much closer to home. I know this exists as I have seen it.

The Dice Players - George de la Tour (early 1650s, oil on canvas)

 

This picture is on display at the Preston Hall Museum, Stockton-on-Tees less than ten miles from my home in  North East England.

For more interpretations of the sepia theme visit Alan Burnett's sepia saturday 83