1 - “Mad Chess” with a Mad Dwarf Jester
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 November 2020
Summary
Abstract
Giulio Campi's painting The Game of Chess (c. 1530–32) presents us with an interesting rendition of a popular pastime in sixteenth-century Italy. At a table holding the chessboard, a knight and a well-dressed woman are engaged in chess combat, while gathered around them are several onlookers and a scowling dwarf jester who commands the woman's attention. This essay examines the sources for Campi’s unusual iconography, showing how he based his imagery on artistic and literary conventions fashioning chess as an allegory of love. While erotic fulfillment is thus the subtext of the game in progress, Campi's composition also betrays his knowledge of new rules of chess play. The queen was assigned increased powers, which led to the revised game being referred to as scacchi alla rabiosa, or “mad chess.” Campi alludes to this transformed game through the gestures and attributes of the female player—and her linkage with the “mad” dwarf jester.
Keywords: “ mad chess”, scacchi alla rabiosa, dwarf jester, Giulio Campi, Marco Girolamo Vida, “living chess”
In a room filled with several people, a chess game is in play (Figure 1.1). On the table, which occupies a good portion of the space, just a hint of the chessboard is visible, its edge flanked by several game pieces and a rose in full bloom. Two figures seated at the table dominate the composition: with his back to us in the left foreground is a knight wearing black armor and a helmet; at his right and facing outward is an ample-bosomed, well-dressed woman. As she points her finger to the board she looks down to the scowling dwarf jester at her side ostensibly to seek his approval for her move. Five other figures—three men and two young girls—complete the gathering, all exhibiting varying degrees of (dis)interest in the activity before them. More than a simple illustration of a popular pastime in Renaissance Italy, Giulio Campi's Partita a scacchi (The Game of Chess) presents us with an orchestra of furtive glances, subtle gestures—and underlying madness.
The painting was executed c. 1530–32 by Campi, a Cremonese artist from a family of painters in the northern region of Lombardy. Although Campi was known primarily for his religious paintings and frescoes, with this work he adopted a new mode of expression.
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- Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2019