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.
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| Egyptian Chess Players 1879 |
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Dice Players |
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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.
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| 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.
