
Not on display
- Artist
- Thomas Stothard 1755–1834
- Medium
- Oil paint on paper
- Dimensions
- Support: 267 × 930 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Bequeathed by Henry Vaughan 1900
- Reference
- N01830
Display caption
This painting depicts a procession of favourite characters from Shakespeare’s plays. From left to right, they are: Olivia, Malvolio, Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek (from Twelfth Night); Falstaff and his drunken associates (from The Merry Wives of Windsor); Celia and Rosalind (from As You Like It); Prospero and Miranda (from The Tempest); King Lear and Cordelia (from King Lear); Ophelia and Hamlet (from Hamlet); Lady Macbeth and the witches (from Macbeth). Instead of showing the characters in literally theatrical settings, Stothard, like other artists of the time including James Barry and Henry Fuseli, pioneered a more imaginative approach, treating the figures as poetic inventions.
Gallery label, April 2016
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Explore
- literature and fiction(3,165)
-
- characters(457)
- Shakespeare(149)
-
- Shakespeare(10)
- night(681)
- crowd(654)
- magic and occultism(651)
-
- fairy(37)
- couple(1,292)
- aristocrat(1,358)
- courtier(69)
- king(115)
- prince(45)
- queen(245)
You might like
-
Henry Fuseli Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers
?exhibited 1812 -
Thomas Stothard An Illustration to Shakespeare’s ‘King John’: Constance and Arthur
?c.1802 -
Thomas Stothard King John and Constance
date not known -
Thomas Stothard Study for ‘Don Quixote’: Title Vignette; A Trophy of Arms and a White Mule
1809 -
Henry Singleton Ariel on a Bat’s Back
exhibited 1819 -
Theodor von Holst The Fairy Lovers
c.1840 -
Henry Fuseli Titania and Bottom
c.1790 -
John Hoppner Jane Elizabeth, Countess of Oxford
1797 -
Thomas Stothard Calypso with her Nymphs Caressing Cupid
exhibited 1814 -
Thomas Stothard Sans Souci
exhibited 1817 -
Thomas Stothard The Pilgrimage to Canterbury
1806–7 -
Thomas Stothard Diana and her Nymphs Bathing
exhibited 1816 -
Thomas Stothard The Vintage
exhibited 1821 -
Charles Reuben Ryley Oscar Bringing Back Annir’s Daughter
1785 -
Thomas Stothard Cupid Bound to a Tree
date not known