Shakspeare. Second Part of King Henry VI.Act I. Scene IV. Mother Jordain, Hume, Southwell, Bolingbroke & Eleanor.
Painted by John Opie R.A. Engraved by C.G. Playter. And Rob.t Thew.
Published Dec.r 1 1796 by John & Josiah Boydell, at the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall Mall. & No 90 Cheapside London.
Stipple, open letter proof, without lines of verse. 505 x 635mm (20 x 25") very large margins. Small tear in bottom margin. Uncut.
The Conjuration, in which Margery Jourdemayne summons a demon to bring about the death of Henry VI. The other figures are: Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester; Roger Bolingbroke, cleric and astrologer; John Hume (or Home), Canon of Hereford and St Asaph and chaplain and secretary to the Gloucesters; & Thomas Southwell, physician and Canon of St Stephen's Chapel in the Palace of Westminster. Shakespeare drew on a real trial for this episode: in 1440 Bolingbroke and Southwell drew up a horoscope for the Duchess that predicted the death of Henry, which meant her husband would succeed to the throne. The group was accused of conspiring to kill the King with necromancy; Eleanor was sentenced to life imprisonment; Bolingbroke was hung, drawn and quartered, his head displayed on London Bridge; and Margery Jourdemayne was burnt at the stake. John Boydell (1720-1804), publisher and Lord Mayor of London in 1790, began his Shakespeare Gallery to encourage British historical painting by commissioning paintings on the theme of Shakeapeare's plays from leading artists and reproducing them as high quality prints. When his gallery in Pall Mall opened in 1789 it contained 34 paintings; by the end it has nearly 170, by artists including Angelica Kauffman, Richard Westall, Thomas Stothard, George Romney, Henry Fuseli, Benjamin West, Robert Smirke, John Opie & Francesco Bartolozzi. 96 were engraved, published separately until the bound edition, ''A Collection of Prints, From Pictures Painted for the Purpose of Illustrating the Dramatic Works of Shakspeare, by the Artists of Great-Britain'' was issued in 1805. The project was over-ambitious, and the cost caused the firm to go bankrupt
[Ref: 54002] £260.00
Published Dec.r 1 1796 by John & Josiah Boydell, at the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall Mall. & No 90 Cheapside London.
Stipple, open letter proof, without lines of verse. 505 x 635mm (20 x 25") very large margins. Small tear in bottom margin. Uncut.
The Conjuration, in which Margery Jourdemayne summons a demon to bring about the death of Henry VI. The other figures are: Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester; Roger Bolingbroke, cleric and astrologer; John Hume (or Home), Canon of Hereford and St Asaph and chaplain and secretary to the Gloucesters; & Thomas Southwell, physician and Canon of St Stephen's Chapel in the Palace of Westminster. Shakespeare drew on a real trial for this episode: in 1440 Bolingbroke and Southwell drew up a horoscope for the Duchess that predicted the death of Henry, which meant her husband would succeed to the throne. The group was accused of conspiring to kill the King with necromancy; Eleanor was sentenced to life imprisonment; Bolingbroke was hung, drawn and quartered, his head displayed on London Bridge; and Margery Jourdemayne was burnt at the stake. John Boydell (1720-1804), publisher and Lord Mayor of London in 1790, began his Shakespeare Gallery to encourage British historical painting by commissioning paintings on the theme of Shakeapeare's plays from leading artists and reproducing them as high quality prints. When his gallery in Pall Mall opened in 1789 it contained 34 paintings; by the end it has nearly 170, by artists including Angelica Kauffman, Richard Westall, Thomas Stothard, George Romney, Henry Fuseli, Benjamin West, Robert Smirke, John Opie & Francesco Bartolozzi. 96 were engraved, published separately until the bound edition, ''A Collection of Prints, From Pictures Painted for the Purpose of Illustrating the Dramatic Works of Shakspeare, by the Artists of Great-Britain'' was issued in 1805. The project was over-ambitious, and the cost caused the firm to go bankrupt
[Ref: 54002] £260.00