The paint Checkmate was created by Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch. In the painting there are three figures. On the left of the painting there is a man with a green robe and a metal helmet. On the right of the painting is a man wearing red clothes with a black jacket. Then in the middle of the painting is an angel that is looking at the man on the right of the painting. The man in the green and the man in the red clothing are playing chess. The man in the green is playing as black while the man in the red is playing as white. The angel in the painting is not doing anything but looking at the man in the red. This painting tells the story of a two men playing chess with an angel being the spectator, but there is more to the painting than just a chess match. The painting tells the looker that good does not always the winner through the use of color, the chess pieces, and the people

The colors used in Checkmate are mostly dark colors, but there are some light colors. The dark colors are mostly used in the background of the painting and the light colors are on the people. The dark colors also take a majority of the painting while the light colors are only one the people in the paint. These two things makes the audience of the painting look at the people in the painting. The people in the painting are different from the background and this difference causes people to notice the people in the painting. Then when the lookers see the people in the painting the lookers will follow the direction that the people in the painting are looking. This following of facial direction will show the looker the chess board. The chess board will tell the looker that they are in a battle and that the man in green is winning. This fact that a side is winning helps the theme by make sure that there is a battle for the theme is about evil winning. If there is no side that is perceived to be winning then this would make the theme be something different. Another purpose that colors serves is that the colors in the chess game itself tells the looker who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. The colors that are seen in the chess game are black, white and brown. Black and white are two colors that are seen as opposing colors. White is the color of good and black is the color for evil. This symbolism of colors shows the looker that there is a battle between good and evil. The man in green is evil as he is playing the black chess pieces and the man in the red is good as he is playing the white chess pieces. This fact helps the looker to see that this is a battle between good and evil. This battle is seen with black having more pieces and can be assumed to be the winner.

The objects painted in Checkmate show that evil is the winner of the game of chess that the man in green and the man in red are playing. One way that the painting is showing that evil is winning is that the decor of the place that the chess game is held. The statues in the right and left top corners of the painting show that this is not a nice place. The statues are of an animal that is not of the earth. The two statues in the top corners of the painting have bulging eyes, a long jaw, with a tongue that extends through the opening between the top and bottom jaws. This shows that they animals are not of the world and that they are not animals on the good guy side. The animals are horrible looking. This characteristic is usually used for evil as the good side have beautiful creatures like an angel. Another piece of decor that shows evil is that the legs of the table shows a picture of a skeleton bird pulling something off from some humanoid. The humanoid has his faced covered and thus the emotion cannot be seen. This carving for the legs is not a picture of someone on the good side. These two facts show that evil is about to win because the room has decor that are not of human things and the carving are terrible to look at. The decor in the room would not be something that looks terrible is the good guy was winning. The decor would be more peaceful, light colored, and not have images of monsters or skulls. Another object that shows that the game is going to be won by evil is what is on the chess board. The chess board shows that the man in green has almost all his pieces except for two. This fact shows the looker that the man in green has more powerful chess pieces than the man in red. The man red can be seen with have lost all but four pieces. This means that the man in red is about to lose to the man in green in terms of power and numbers. This is difference in power and in numbers show the looker that the man that fight for good is not always the winner. The man that fights for evil is sometimes the winner.  

Now the last piece that Retzsch uses to show that evil can be the winner is how the painter painted the chess players. The facial expressions on the chess players show different attitudes on them. The man in green is watching the man in red and the man in green is also has a very curios look on his attitude. These two facts show that the man in green believes that he is about to win. The curious look he has is just wondering what the man in red is about to do and the look has shown no real concern for what the man in red is trying to do. The man in red on the other hand does not have a relaxed face. The man in red can be seen with a face full of concentration. This concentration is because the man in red has only a few options left and thus has to find a way out of the situation, but cannot. These two different facial expression shows that the man in green is about to win thus evil is about to win. 

The painting Checkmate is about two men playing chess in a very dark room. The two players represent evil and good. The man in green representing evil and the man in red representing good. These two players are near the end of the game. The man in green is about to win because he has more chess pieces and more powerful chess piece. These two things show that evil is about to win. The Retzsch also uses the colors in the painting and other objects in the painting to show that evil is about. All of these elements help tell the audience of the painting that the good guy does not always win and sometime evil does prevail.
