''King Lear in the Storm'' is a 1788

oil on canvas Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or copper for several centuries. ...

history painting History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and B ...

by the American-British

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

Benjamin West Benjamin West (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as ''The Death of Nelson (West painting), The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the ''Treaty of Paris ( ...

. It depicts an episode from

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

''. Drawn from Act 3, Scene 4 of the

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

, it shows the king refusing to accept the hospitality or his scheming daughters and walking out on the moors during a storm. It marked a break from the Neoclassical style West had previously used and anticipated the emerging

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

movement. It is also known simply as ''King Lear'', although the longer title distinguishes it from West's 1784 painting ''King Lear and Cordelia''. The

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

-born West had become known for his historical paintings, many of them commissioned by

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

for

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

. This work was produced for the recently opened

Boydell Shakespeare Gallery The Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in London, England, was the first stage of a three-part project initiated in November 1786 by engraver and publisher John Boydell in an effort to foster a School (discipline), school of British history painting. ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's Pall Mall and was considered one of the best works It featured. It was displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1789 at

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

. Today the painting is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, having been acquired in 1979. An

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

was produced in 1793 by William Sharp.https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O77348/king-lear-in-the-storm-print-west-benjamin/

References

Bibliography

* Alberts, Robert C. ''Benjamin West: A Biography''. Houghton Mifflin, 1978. * Burwick, Frederick. ''Romantic Drama: Acting and Reacting''. Cambridge University Press 2099. * Grossman, Lloyd. ''Benjamin West and the Struggle to be Modern''. Merrell Publishers, 2015. * Sillars, Stuart. ''Shakespeare Seen: Image, Performance and Society''. Cambridge University Press, 2018. Paintings by Benjamin West 1788 paintings History paintings Oil on canvas paintings Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Paintings based on works by William Shakespeare {{1780s-painting-stub