Clarence's Dream (Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 1, Scene 4)
When just seventeen, Blake engraved this design by Stothard for William Enfield's "The Speaker, or Miscellaneous Pieces Selected from the Best English Writers." Kneeling in the foreground, the Duke of Clarence looks over his shoulder at an accusing spirit chillingly described in Shakespeare's Richard III:
Then came wand'ring by, A shadow like an Angel, with bright hair
Dabbled in blood, and he shriek'd aloud:
"Clarence is come, false, fleeting perjur'd Clarence,
That stabb'd me in the field by Tewkesbury,
Seize on him, furies, take him to your torments!"
Then came wand'ring by, A shadow like an Angel, with bright hair
Dabbled in blood, and he shriek'd aloud:
"Clarence is come, false, fleeting perjur'd Clarence,
That stabb'd me in the field by Tewkesbury,
Seize on him, furies, take him to your torments!"
Artwork Details
- Title: Clarence's Dream (Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 1, Scene 4)
- Engraver: William Blake (British, London 1757–1827 London)
- Artist: After Thomas Stothard (British, London 1755–1834 London)
- Publisher: John Johnson (London) , St. Paul's Churchyard
- Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
- Date: 1774
- Medium: Etching and engraving
- Dimensions: plate: 4 7/8 x 2 7/8 in. (12.4 x 7.3 cm)
sheet: 6 7/16 x 3 5/8 in. (16.4 x 9.2 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
- Object Number: 17.3.2829
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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