Playing Chess 

Wilhelm Kotarbinski painted this canvas, titled 'Playing Chess', in the late 19th or early 20th century. It shows figures in classical dress passing the time in leisurely pursuits. The image seems to create meaning through its visual codes, referencing an idealised version of ancient Roman culture. Kotarbinski was Polish, but he made his career in Russia and Ukraine, and the work hints at the ways that the art academies of Eastern Europe promoted classical subjects as a way of instruction. It may also reflect the tastes of a specific class of wealthy patron. The classical aesthetic would have been seen as conservative, harking back to a glorious historical past in contrast to the industrialised present. We can understand the painting better by researching the history of art academies in the Russian empire and the tastes of collectors in that time and place. The meaning of art is so often contingent on its social context.