Shakespeare on canvas

9:48 AM

I've just discovered Shakespeare Illustrated, a website that shows, among many things, several paintings portraying scenes from Shakespeare's plays. Some of my favorites are:


William Quiller Orchardson, "If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On" (1890)
from Twelfth Night

William Blake, Lear and Cordelia in Prison (c. 1778-80)
from King Lear

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Queen Mab's Cave (1846)
from Romeo and Juliet

Oh, Turner... you can never really disapoint, can you? According to the Tate Gallery: "a reviewer called [the painting above] ‘a daylight dream in all the wantonness of gorgeous, bright, and positive colour, not painted but apparently flung upon the canvas’."

What other paintings depicting Shakespeare's plays do you like?

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2 comments

  1. MarthaApril 11, 2012 at 8:29 PM

    I saw Othello in Staunton's Shakespeare Theater in 2011. It was really amazing, the actors were terrific. And the painting i liked the most in this website is Desdemona by Frederic Leighton. http://shakespeare.emory.edu/illustrated_showimage.cfm?imageid=140

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  2. PaulaApril 12, 2012 at 10:17 AM

    Just saw the painting you referred to, it's really beautiful. Desdemona looks so fragile and meditative. Does the painting remind you of the actress you saw or it matches your own idea of what Desdemona looks like?

    Thanks for stopping by!

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Thanks for commenting! Do come back because I usually reply to comments here.