The Death Bed of Robert, King of Naples, from "Illustrated London News"

Edward Dalziel’s wood engraving reproduces an 1847-48 painting by Elmore (now Lytham St. Annes Art Collection, England), made two years after the artist returned to London from studying art in Europe. The work shows Robert of Anjou (1278-1343) (known as Robert the Wise, who ruled as King of Naples 1309–43). An influential leader, Robert was known as "The Peacemaker of Italy" and transformed Naples into an elegant medieval city, a center for the arts with a flourishing university. This print captures his final moments, with the crown about to pass to his teenage granddaughter, Joanna. Since Elmore’s painting was made soon after Victoria acceded to the British throne, the imagery would have been interpreted as having contemporary parallels (Joanna came to the throne at fifteen or sixteen, her step-grandmother acted as regent, and Joanna marriage to a kinsman whose position and title were much debated—similarly Victoria came to the throne under her mother’s control and married her cousin Albert, provoking British debate about the nature of his role as Prince Consort).