Barry, James Plate 51. “King Lear, Act V, Scene iii. Camp near Dover. Lear with Cordelia Dead. Edgar, Albany and Kent: Goneril, Regan"

James Barry.  Plate 51.  “King Lear, Act V, Scene iii.  Camp near Dover.  Lear with Cordelia Dead. Edgar, Albany and Kent: Goneril, Regan...”  From The American Edition of Boydell’s Illustrations of Shakespeare, Restored to all the Pristine Beauty of the First Proofs. 

New York: S. Spooner, 106 Liberty St., 1852.  ca. 17 1/2 x 23 ½ (image).  Engraving by Fras. Legat.  Bottom right hand margin corner chipped an filled with rice paper.  Wear along right hand margin edge reinforced with rice paper.  Print has been professionally conserved.  Very good condition.

These are fascinating artistic expressions of the then current gothic interpretation of Shakespeare’s works.  The gallery and the prints were a boon for British artists, giving them inspiration and publicity at the same time.  As almost all the paintings have since disappeared, the prints take on added interest as the surviving record of this fascinating episode in British art history.