拍品专文
The present picture is a second version of a work illustrating Act IV, Scene iii from Shakespeare's Richard III. The murder of the two young Princes, King Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, on the orders of their uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, does not take place on stage, but is described by Sir James Tyrrell:
The tyrannous and bloody act is done;
The most arch deed of piteous massacre
That ever yet this land was guilty of.
Dighton and Forrest, whom I did suborn
To do this piece of ruthless butchery,
Albeit they were flesh'd villainus, bloody dogs,
Melting with tenderness and mild compassion,
Wept like to children in their death's sad story.
'Oh! thus', quoth Dighton, 'lay the gentle babes:'
'Thus, thus', quoth Forrest, 'girdling one another
Within their alabaster innocent arms:
Their lips were four red roses on a stalk,
Which in their summer beauty kiss'd each other.
A book of prayers on their pillow lay;
Which once', quoth Forrest, 'almost chang'd my mind;
But, O, the devil' - there the villain stopp'd;
When Dighton thus told on: 'We smothered
The most replenished sweet work of nature,
That from the prime creation e'er she fram'd'.
Hence both are gone with conscience and remorse.
The earlier version was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1786 and bought by Alderman John Boydell. According to Northcote, the picture inspired Boydell to establish his highly successful Shakespeare Gallery. When it was exhibited at Boydell's premises in Cheapside, it caused a sensation with its contrasts of innocence and villainy, and chiaroscuro, appealing to a wide audience. Northcote went on to illustrate several other Shakespearian scenes for Boydell. The original version entered the collection of Lord Egremont following the sale of Boydell's Shakespeare collection in 1805.
The present picture was commissioned by the Whig Politician, Samuel Whitbread, who hung it as a pendant to a picture of The Good Shepherd by Gainsborough after Murillo, at Southill Park.
The tyrannous and bloody act is done;
The most arch deed of piteous massacre
That ever yet this land was guilty of.
Dighton and Forrest, whom I did suborn
To do this piece of ruthless butchery,
Albeit they were flesh'd villainus, bloody dogs,
Melting with tenderness and mild compassion,
Wept like to children in their death's sad story.
'Oh! thus', quoth Dighton, 'lay the gentle babes:'
'Thus, thus', quoth Forrest, 'girdling one another
Within their alabaster innocent arms:
Their lips were four red roses on a stalk,
Which in their summer beauty kiss'd each other.
A book of prayers on their pillow lay;
Which once', quoth Forrest, 'almost chang'd my mind;
But, O, the devil' - there the villain stopp'd;
When Dighton thus told on: 'We smothered
The most replenished sweet work of nature,
That from the prime creation e'er she fram'd'.
Hence both are gone with conscience and remorse.
The earlier version was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1786 and bought by Alderman John Boydell. According to Northcote, the picture inspired Boydell to establish his highly successful Shakespeare Gallery. When it was exhibited at Boydell's premises in Cheapside, it caused a sensation with its contrasts of innocence and villainy, and chiaroscuro, appealing to a wide audience. Northcote went on to illustrate several other Shakespearian scenes for Boydell. The original version entered the collection of Lord Egremont following the sale of Boydell's Shakespeare collection in 1805.
The present picture was commissioned by the Whig Politician, Samuel Whitbread, who hung it as a pendant to a picture of The Good Shepherd by Gainsborough after Murillo, at Southill Park.