Imogen Found in the Cave of Belarius

George Dawe's Imogen Found in the Cave of Belarius of 1809 takes its subject from Shakespeare's Cymbeline, depicting the moment when the wandering princess Imogen, believed dead, is discovered in Britain's wild country by the elderly exile Belarius and her two brothers. Dawe was attempting here to establish himself as a history and literary painter — a more prestigious genre than portraiture — in the years before his great Russian commission gave him the career he actually became known for. Shakespearean subjects had become a staple of British Romantic painting following the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery's initiative in the 1790s, and Cymbeline, with its combination of romance, disguise, and pastoral exile, offered rich pictorial opportunities. The Tate's painting is a record of Dawe's literary ambitions and his Romantic period style before portrait commissions came to dominate.

Dawe paints the cave interior with strong chiaroscuro, a single source of light illuminating the discovery scene dramatically against deep shadow. Imogen's figure is the brightest element, drawing attention to the moment of recognition. The handling shows awareness of the Fuseli and Mortimer tradition of dramatic Shakespearean painting and is more expressive than Dawe's later portrait work.