David Garrick as King Lear
Richard Westall·c. 1815
Historical Context
Richard Westall depicted the great actor David Garrick in his most celebrated Shakespearean role as King Lear, a part that showcased Garrick's revolutionary approach to naturalistic acting. Garrick (1717-1779) transformed British theater and made Shakespeare the national poet. Though this was painted after Garrick's death, it preserves the memory of performances that contemporaries described as overwhelming in their emotional power.
Technical Analysis
The oil on canvas captures the dramatic intensity of Lear's madness through theatrical lighting and expressive gesture. Westall's fluid brushwork and dark, stormy palette convey the tempestuous emotional landscape of Shakespeare's tragedy.
Provenance
Alfred Wilson Harris (died 1932), Peoria, Illinois, and Cleveland, Ohio, probably acquired in Europe in 1918/19 [information given in a conversation of March 23, 2004, between Nancy Newberry, granddaughter of A.W. Harris, and Tiffany Johnston; see memorandum in curatorial file]; by descent to his son, Thomas William Harris, Bay Village, Ohio; consigned by him to the Vixseboxse Art Gallery, Cleveland, before 1958 [according to letter of November 10, 1958, from T. W. Harris to Mr. Vixseboxse; copy in curatorial file]; given by him to the Akron Art Institute, Akron, Ohio, in 1958 and accessioned as 58.212 [according to correspondence and records supplied by the Akron Art Museum]; deaccessioned by the Akron Museum of Art, 1981 [according to the records cited above, in 1980 the Akron Art Institute changed its name to the Akron Museum of Art]; sold, Sotheby's, New York, January 8, 1981, lot 76, to Richard Feigen, New York, and P. & D. Colnaghi and Company, London, in joint ownership [buyers according to e-mail correspondence of December 11, 2015, between Frances Beatty of Richard Feigen and Company, and Amanda Block; copy in curatorial file]; all shares sold to Richard Feigen, March 1, 1981 [see previous citation]; given to the Art Institute, 1996.
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