Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and the Lady Anne Artist: Edwin Austin Abbey (American, 1852–1911, M.A. (Hon.) 1897)

1896

American Paintings and Sculpture

On view, 2nd floor, American Art before 1900

In this scene from William Shakespeare’s Richard III, the villainous, humpbacked Richard, Duke of Gloucester, brazenly attempts to woo the Lady Anne, the widow of a man he has recently stabbed to death, as she walks in the funeral procession of her father-in-law, King Henry VI, another of Richard’s victims. Richard pleads his case and offers her a ring, asserting that he killed the two men in order to get near her. Anne reacts with fury to his words, but like a fly caught in a net, she soon succumbs to his flattery, and the artful duke becomes her husband and England’s next king.

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

52 5/8 × 104 3/8 in. (133.7 × 265.1 cm)

Credit Line

Edwin Austin Abbey Memorial Collection

Accession Number

1937.2224

Geography

Made in London, England

Culture

American

Period

19th century

Classification

Paintings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Edwin Austin Abbey Estate, 1911–1937; given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1937
Bibliography
  • American Art: Selections from the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2023), 25, 164–65, no. 72, ill
  • Susan B. Matheson, Art for Yale: A History of the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2001), 109, fig. 104
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

histories (visual works), human figures (visual works), literature (general genre)

Subject

Elizabethan Tudor children (people by age group) coffins costumes deaths kings (people) processions red robes swords tragedy

Signed

Signed lower left "E.A. Abbey/1896"

Technical metadata and APIs

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