Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and the Lady Anne

1896

Oil on canvas

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

Edwin Austin Abbey Memorial Collection

1937.2224

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.

Geography:

Made in London, England

Status:

On view

Culture:

American

Period:

19th century

Classification:

Paintings

Provenance:

Edwin Austin Abbey Estate, 1911–1937; given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1937

Bibliography:

Artists on Art: Observations by Yale Faculty on Selections from the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1999), 30–31, 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.

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 such records is ongoing.