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Painting of Courier game

Courier Chess (or Courierspiel) is an historic chess variant, first mentioned in the "Wigalois" a German poem dated from 1205. The famous Dutch painter Lucas van Leyden has represented a game for posterity in the painting shown below. Nowadays, this masterpiece is dated circa 1510. Bell reported that it experienced a tumultuous history during WWII. It can be now admired at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany.

Painting Lucas van Leyden


WWW page made by Hans Bodlaender. Painting sent by Nuno Cruz.
WWW page created: March 14, 2000, revised July 15, 2000 by Jean-Louis Cazaux; small revision January 1, 2011 by Hans Bodlaender.