ford madox brown - eTheses Repository - University of Birmingham

idea of creating his own series of illustrations the following year. 30 If not able to see
the illustrations himself he must have been aware of them as they were discussed in
artistic circles, even across the Channel: in October 1843 The Art Union mused 'were
it not sufficiently known that on the Continent the favourite play of our great
dramatist was Hamlet, this would be shown by the frequency of its illustration, and
the numerous subjects it supplies to foreign artists.' It went on to inform its readers
that 'M. Eugène Delacroix has just published thirteen lithographic plates illustrative of
striking scenes in this play.' 31
In 1844 Brown created a set of nineteen scenes illustrating Shakespeare’s tragic play
King Lear (see cat. nos. 82-85 and Figs. 9-27). 32 The majority of these drawings are
now at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester but BMAG holds four works on paper
relating to the series (cat. nos. 82-85). The drawings are dated 1844 and were
produced in Paris. The first is a study for Lear questioning Cordelia, the final version
of which is at the Whitworth (cat. no 82 and Fig. 9). The second sheet of drawings
was divided in two by Brown (cat. no 83). In the top half he made a pencil and ink
sketch of the scene in which Lear imagines himself at his unfaithful Daughter's Trial.
In the bottom half is a study for Lear in the Storm. The third sheet depicts Kent
accusing Oswald on one side and a study for Lear recounts his Wrongs to Regan on
the other (cat. no 84). The last drawing is of Cordelia at Lear's Bedside (cat. no 85).
Taken as a whole series Brown's drawings focus on the key moments of the play,
30 This view of the inspiration Brown found in Delacroix’s lithographs is shared by Borowitz (Op. cit.
at note 21, p. 313) and Martin Meisel ('Pictorial Engagements: Byron, Delacroix, Ford Madox Brown,'
Studies in Romanticism, vol. 27, no. 4, Winter 1988, p. 601).
31 The Art Union, vol. 5, no. 55, 1 October 1843, p. 273.
32 He included sixteen of these in his 1865 solo exhibition which centred around his painting Work
(1852-1865, oil on canvas, Manchester City Art Gallery). These sixteen drawings are now in the
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. Two other studies and three sketches are at BMAG. Brown
appears to have made at least one further drawing for the scene in which Lear recounts his wrongs to
Regan. This study was reproduced in Hueffer's biography of Brown and was at the time owned by him
(see op. cit. at note 1, p. 447 et seq.)
28