Joseph Clark, R.O.I.

Simon Thesinger;
London, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London from whom bought by Sir David Scott in 1982

SHEET The sheet has been stuck down to the mount. Slightly undulating. MEDIUM Generally well preserved, in good condition. FRAME Held in a simple wood frame; under glass.
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This delicate drawing is a finished study for Checkmate which was exhibited by the artist at the Royal Academy in 1870, following the success of two earlier paintings depicting board game scenes, The Draught Players of 1859 and The Chess Players of 1860. The former depicted a grandfather teaching his grandson to play draughts, and although no record has been found of the appearance of the 1860 picture, it is likely that it was similar to Checkmate painted ten years later. The Chess Players depicts a decisive moment of a game as the grandfather prepares to make his move. From the gleeful expression of his young opponent, we can surmise that the game is not going in the learned gentleman's favour, and that his grandson is close to check-mate. The game has presumably been long and drawn out and the boy's mother has brought a plate of biscuits to sustain the players through their game. The setting is the grandfather's library, one of those middle class Victorian interiors used predominantly by men. Although it is doubtful that it was Clark's intention to suggest the opposing roles of Victorian men and women in this picture, it is interesting to note that the mother and infant are excluded from the game and that her maternal role is emphasised in contrast to the more cerebral attitudes of the male figures

 

The Victorian middle class preoccupation with leisure led to a proliferation of paintings depicting various pastimes and sporting scenes from bicycle riding to tennis matches, cock-fighting to boating. Perhaps the most famous Victorian paintings of leisure were William Powell Frith's Derby Day and Ramsgate Sands which depict the social contrasts and activities of the races and days at the sea-side. Checkmate is a more intimate scene than the extravaganzas of Frith and the representation of leisure is more relaxed.