Dear Kaarin,
A couple of years back I was asked this question and hunted all over the
place for the answer. I think the story may ultimately refer to
etchings by Moritz Retzsch. According to Veronika Braunfels' article on
Retzsch in The Grove Dictionary of Art Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed 9
April 2003), <http://www.groveart.com>, Retzsch did a series of etchings
for Goethe's Faust. The 1820 English translation of Faust "was widely
circulated and frequently reprinted."
Apparently, there is an apocryphal story about the 19th-century chess
player, Paul Morphy. Apparently, Morphy visited Richmond in 1861 and
had dinner at a reverend's home. Here, he saw a picture of a man
playing chess with Mephistopheles, where the man was looking anxious and
the devil triumphant; however, Morphy thought that the man could still
win the game. This is a heavily-paraphrased account from a newsletter
article I found on the Web:
Campbell, John T. "Legendary Morphy Artifact Found in Virginia."
Virginia Chess Newsletter. (November/December 1994).
Campbell cites two references that recount the tale: David Lawson's Paul
Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess (New York: McKay, 1976): 267-269,
and a magazine article by Bradley Ewart "The Devil and Paul Morphy,"
Chess Life (June 1984). Campbell went further in his article to prove
that the story was actual, saying that the "picture" actually resides in
a Richmond home. He believes the "picture" is a lithograph after a work
by Retzsch, but I'm not certain; it may be an etching.
Anyway, maybe your patron might want to follow up by reading the above
articles and possibly obtaining books on Retzsch?
I hope this helps in some way!
Karen
Karen O'Connell
Reference Librarian
Lauinger Library
Georgetown University
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