King Lear Weeping over the Body of Cordelia
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JPEG imageItem Type:
ImageDate:
1983Citation:
William L. Pressly, 'James Barry: Artist as Hero', London: The Tate Gallery, 1983, p 56-7, no 5.Download Item:
Publisher:
The Tate GalleryDescription:
'This painting is remarkable both for its choice of subject and for its design. All acted versions of 'King Lear' in teh eighteenth century called for a happy ending, in that it was felt to be inappropriate to permit the innocent Cordelia and her noble father to die at the end. Barry was the first to paint the last act as Shakespeare wrote it, selecting that tragic moment when the aged king dies from grief with the body of his daughter in his arms. For his conception he was influenced by paintings of Christ's body cradled in Mary's lap, in particular Annibale Carracci's 'The Dead Christ Mourned', then in the collection of the Duke of Orleans and now [1983]in the National Gallery, London.'(Pressly, 56)Role:
artistCulture:
IrishDimensions/Extent:
101.5 cm x 128 cmMaterial (Support):
canvasWork:
paintingRole:
artistPublisher:
The Tate GalleryType of material:
ImageAvailability:
Full text availablePeriod:
18th centuryMetadata
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