Death playing chess

Death playing chess

Swedish: Döden spelar schack, Bulgarian: Смъртта играе шах
Artist	Albertus Pictor
Year	1480 (1480)
Medium	oil on canvas
Location	Swedish Museum of History, Tebyu, Sweden; Stockholm

Death playing chess (in Swedish: Döden spelar schack) is a monumental painting in the church at Tebyu, Sweden. It was painted around 1480–1490, by the Swedish medieval painter Albertus Pictor.^[1]

A copy of the mural is stored in the collections of the Swedish Museum of History in Stockholm.^[1]

Analysis

The artist was born with the name Albrecht Manhusen village in Hesse. It is assumed that Albertus was educated in southern Germany.

He is one of the most significant medieval Swedish artists. His works represent a unique combination of quality and quantity. He painted 36 churches in Malardalen and Norrbotten. He stands out as the most active artist in the Swedish church painting in the second half of the 15th century. He differs from other artists of the same period with its bright expression. His painting covers unusual breadth and diversity in technical performance. This mural represents how a knight plays chess with death. Skillfully depicts figures with precise anatomical proportions, and combines them with clothes and weapons, which gives a relatively realistic vision.^[1]

The mural inspired Ingmar Bergman to create the film "The Seventh Seal" in 1957.^[2]

References

1. 1 2 3 ((en))  Death Playing Chess, Albertus. // europeana.eu. Посетен на 24 април 2016 г.
2. ↑ ((sv)) Bäckstedt, Eva.

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Bulgarian Wikipedia.