ford madox brown - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

Cat. no. 84 King Lear: Kent accuses Oswald, 1844
Verso: King Lear: Lear recounts his Wrongs to Regan
Brown pen and ink with pencil underneath; 151 x 235 mm (s.)
Insc. bl.: Ford M Brown Paris/44
Lit.: Hueffer, ill. p. 447 et seq.; Whitley, p. 30; Christine Poulson, 'A Checklist of Pre-
Raphaelite Illustrations of Shakespeare's Plays,' Burlington Magazine, vol. 122, no. 925,
April 1980, p. 246; Ford Madox Brown: The Unofficial Pre-Raphaelite, p. 67
Exh.:
Pre-Raphaelite Drawings, Roland, Browse & Delbanco, London, 1947 (38);
Shakespeare in Pictures, Ulster Museum, 1964 (4)
Prov.: Charles Fairfax Murray
Presented by Subscribers, 1906 (1906P756)
This sheet contains drawings for King Lear on both sides. On one side is the scene in
which Kent accuses Oswald of disloyalty to Lear. are
nt
e
he scene which directly preceeds this one in which Kent
drawing in the sequence
116 On the left of the composition
the Earl of Gloucester, the Duke of Cornwall, and Regan. In the centre stands Ke
railing against Oswald with Edmund in the background. Oswald, in his crossed garters,
stands forlornly on the right with his sword clearly visible as described in the text. Th
Whitworth holds the drawing of t
challenges Oswald and they quarrel. It also holds the next
depicting Kent in the stocks.
On the reverse of this drawing is a sketch for the scene in which Lear complains to Regan
117
of Goneril’s unkindness.
The Whitworth Art Gallery holds the finished drawing of
this scene. Hueffer owned a third
study that included elements of both the sketch and the
finished drawing but its current
location is unknown. Despite the looseness of the sketch
all the elements of the final composition can be seen: Lear and Regan surrounded by
Gloucester and Cornwall, the Fool and Kent in the background on the right, and the castle
in the background on the left. The only changes that Brown made were to the central
group; in the final version Gloucester leans forwards on a walking stick, not to the
side,
and Lear does not use both hands to hold Regan’s but makes a gesture of dissatisfaction
with his right one. In the Whitworth drawing Brown also lowered Lear and Regan’ s
joined hand so that it is
almost at the centre of the composition, perhaps highlighting the
daughter’s treachery.
Cat. no. 85 King Lear: Cordelia at Lear's Bedside (Lear's Awakening), 1844
Brown pen and ink over pencil; 152 x 232 mm
Insc. br.: Ford M Brown Paris/44; insc. in pencil on reverse: act IV. sc VII
Lit.: Whitley, p. 30; Christine Poulson, 'A Checklist of Pre-Raphaelite Illustrations of
Shakespeare's Plays,' Burlington Magazine, vol. 122, no. 925, April 1980, p. 246
Exh.: Pre-Raphaelite Drawings, Roland, Browse and Delbanco, London,1947 (41);
Shakespeare in Pictures, Ulster Museum, 1964 (4); Ford Madox Brown: The Unofficial
Pre-Raphaelite (4)
Prov.: Charles Fairfax Murray
Presented by Subscribers, 1906 (1906P757)
116 Op. cit. at note 114, act II, sc. iv, 50-125.
117 Ibid., act II, sc. iv, 122-32.
249