Elector Johann Frederick the Magnanimous plays chess with a Spanish nobleman

Two versions of the picture have been preserved. One, the most famous, is 65 by 92 centimeters in size ^[1] , painted with oil on wood, and is stored in Gotha, Thuringia, Germany (since 1656 the painting has been in Friedenstein Castle, German Friedenstein Castle in Gotha , in 1946 it ended up in The Soviet Union and returned to the GDR in 1958 ), another option, measuring 91 by 113 centimeters, is in Leipzig ( German Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig ) ^[2] . The picture from Gotha was carefully studied, in particular, an X-ray was taken in Hamburg .

There are significant differences between the options in Gotha and Leipzig: 1) the chess pieces are more familiar in the picture in Leipzig, which makes it possible to reconstruct the position on the board ^[2] ; 2) the faces on it are depicted somewhat arbitrarily, but it is clear that the same characters are depicted; 3) in the upper left corner is a green curtain.

At the Battle of Mülberg ^{[3], the} Catholic army of Emperor Charles V defeated the troops of the Protestants of the Schmalkalden Union , commanded by the Saxon Elector Johann Friedrich (Elector of Saxony from August 16, 1532 to April 24, 1547, a representative of the Ernestine line of the Vettin dynasty) in it due to his carelessness.

The young peasant, in revenge for the Elector Johann Friedrich, who took away two horses from him, indicated the Spanish army ford across the river. Waiting for the dawn, under the cover of fog, the Spaniards crossed to the opposite bank. It was Sunday morning and the Elector, with most of the officers, took part in the evangelistic service. Only after the end of the mass did he move towards the Spanish troops. The Elector, whose army was inferior in number to the enemy, expected to wait in the evening and retreat under cover of darkness. But the Protestant troops were defeated by the army of Charles V before dusk. In the forest, troops of Charles V surrounded Johann Frederick. He was wounded by a saber in the face and captured.

Sentenced to death by Charles V, but pardoned, Johann Friedrich signed the Wittenberg surrender, giving his cousin the Duke Moritz of the Saxon Elector (1548), the latter was solemnly elevated by Emperor Charles V to the Electors on June 4, 1547.

Johann Friedrich remained captive until Moritz, by his attack on the emperor near Innsbruck in 1552, betrayed the latter and he, according to the Passau Treaty, freed Johann Friedrich. Under the Naumburg Treaty of 1554, the lands that constituted the possession of the Ernestine line were left behind. Johann Friedrich became the last of the Ernestian electors.

The plot of the picture is Johann Friedrich, during his imprisonment in Brussels, plays chess with the Spanish captain of his guard. In fact, after the defeat at the Battle of Mülberg in April 1547, Johann Friedrich played chess with his comrade-in-arms, the Duke Ernst III of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen, ^[4] who was at the same time imprisoned by the emperor, as was the Elector. Johann Friedrich received a letter stating that he was sentenced to death (the sentence was pronounced on May 10, 1547). The Elector continued the game, not paying attention to the news ^[5] . There is no letter in the picture, but a friend is replaced by a nobleman from the retinue of the emperor, which enhances the drama. Both characters are on either side of the chessboard. At the same time, the nobleman frantically squeezes the sword and makes a move.

There is an assumption that the rival of the Saxon elector in the picture is Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria ( German: Erzherzog Ferdinand II von Tirol ), since 1547 the viceroy of the Czech Republic , based on the undoubted portrait similarity of Ferdinand with the character depicted in the picture ^[6] .

• Schneider, HJ Katalog der Herzoglichen Gemäldegalerie im Herzoglichen Museum zu Gotha, 1868 , - painting attributed to an unknown master;
• Aldenhoven, C. Katalog der Herzoglichen Gemäldegalerie im Herzoglichen Museum zu Gotha, 1890 , - attributed to the artist Peter Fischer the Younger ( German Peter Vischer the Younger ), student of Lucas Cranach the Elder ; Junius, Johann Friedrich der Großmütige, 1930 Folge XXII, 2. Juniheft, S. 328, Nr. 369 , - attributed to the same artist. Currently, this hypothesis is rejected. The death of Peter Vischer der Ältere now dates from 1529 , and Peter Vischer the Younger - even 1528 , they both died nineteen to twenty years before the painting was created.
• Schuchardt, Christian, Lucas Cranach des Ältern Leben und Werke. Teil I — II & Teil III, Leipzig, 1851 & 1871, - the art critic carefully referred the painting to Lucas Cranach the Elder, but this hypothesis has been rejected by modern art historians because of the inconsistency of styles.
• Schenk zu Schweinsberg,?. Kurze Übersicht über die neugeordneten Kunst- und geschichtlichen Sammlungen des Herzoglichen Museums Gotha. Gotha, 1935, - an unknown artist from Brussels from the middle of the 16th century is named the author;
• Purgold, Karl, Das Herzogliche Museum Gotha. Gotha, 1937 - the painting is attributed to an artist from Brussels (entourage of Antonis Mora or the master himself).

Portraits of Morah are characterized by a dark background. The emphasis is on the strength and energy in the model, the volume of the body is allocated. Another feature is the interest in the subject environment, the thoroughness of reproducing the smallest accessories, which gives the picture documentary and realism.

• A number of historical documents speak in favor of the authorship of the court artist Emperor Charles V, who worked in Brussels, Jan Cornelison Vermeen ^[7] , in particular, a mysterious position placed on a board in which the figures are turned into unrecognizable monsters. The artist loved riddles and often turned the image in his picture into a charade ^[8] .

The artists Anthony Mor ^[9] and Jan Vermeen, who may be the authors of this picture, were court painters of Emperor Charles V, but the picture was painted with sympathy for his opponent.

• In two later paintings, made in the 17th century and dedicated to the Battle of Mülberg, the canvas of 1548 is quoted, but the chess game is one of the elements of the composition, while it is insignificant (it is impossible to make out the position itself), while in the early two paintings the chess game plays key role. The chess game scene is in the background of the paintings (in the tent where the characters of the 1548 painting are located), both times a messenger is shown carrying the message to the elector with the news of the death sentence. These two pictures:

1) “The Battle of Mülberg and the Captivity of the Elector of Saxony Johann Friedrich” (Anonymous, 1630 , Berlin , German Historical Museum),

2) “Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous” by Christian Richter (1587–1667), who was a court painter in Weimar ^[10] , the painting was created in 1650 and is also stored in Gotha, in Friedenstein Castle.

• Artist Johann Samuel Bletner (1731 - 1800) in his painting Johann Friedrich I. Kurfürst v. Sachsen "der Großmütige" (1503-1554) ”depicted the Elector calmly leaning on the table with an unplayed chess game, listening to the sentence of the emperor ^[11] . Another painting was created on this plot in 1858 . The canvas of the artist Karl Svoboda is called "The announcement of the death sentence to Elector Johann Friedrich of Saxony (1503-1554) in 1547" or "Jan Friedrich in prison." The enemy of the main character in chess is again his captive ally, the scene is depicted at the moment when the emperor’s envoy read out the sentence.
• An echo of the painting is the painting “ Konradin of Swabian and Friedrich of Baden awaiting sentencing” ^{[12] [13]} , performed by the artist Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829) in 1784 , it is also stored in the Gotha Museum, but executed in a theatrical and melodramatic key .

• Karikov S. A. Influence of the domestic and foreign policies of the Elector Moritz on the formation of the territorial statehood of Saxony.

• Elector Johann Frederick the Magnanimous plays chess with a Spanish nobleman. Option from Gotha. The best image. Digify.
• Elector Johann Frederick the Magnanimous plays chess with a Spanish nobleman. Option from Gotha. Chess position. Digify.
• Elector Johann Frederick the Magnanimous plays chess with a Spanish nobleman. Option from Leipzig. Digify.
• Christian Richter. Elector Johann Frederick the Magnanimous. Fragment: Elector at the game of chess receives the sentence of the emperor. Digify.