Vyacheslav Schwartz, who was the first person in Russian art to paint genre scenes with a historical setting, depicts Alexis Mikhailovich playing chess with one of his boyars. This was a favourite entertainment for the Tsar when he was with a group of close associates with whom he liked to shut himself away in the evening. The game was so popular at court that there were special craftsmen serving in the Armoury Palace whose job was to make and repair chess pieces.

Schwartz Vyacheslav

Schwartz, Vyacheslav Grigorievich
1838, Kursk - 1869, Kursk
Painter, graphic artist, history painter, book illus¬trator, theatrical designer. Studied at the Imperial Alexander Lyceum in St Petersburg (1853–1859), at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1859–1863). Lived in Germany and France (1861–1867), took lessons from Wilhelm von Kaulbach in Berlin (1861) and Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonier in Paris (1863). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1862). Academi¬cian of history painting (from 1865). Full member of the Russian Archeology Society (from 1865).