Cardinal Wolsey Entering the Abbey of Leicester (Shakespeare, King Henry VIII, Act 4, Scene 2)
Not on view
John Boydell launched the Shakespeare Gallery in 1786 as a publishing-cum-exhibition scheme that would include a new illustrated edition of the plays, sets of large and small engravings, and a gallery established on London's Pall Mall where the commissioned paintings could be displayed to promote subscriptions to the prints. The gallery opened in 1789 with thirty-four works then grew to about one hundred and seventy before financial difficulties caused by Napoleon's blocade of European ports forced Boydell to declare bankruptcy. In 1805 his collection was sold by lottery and its contents scattered.
Thew's engraving after Westall illustrates a dramatic moment in Act IV of "King Henry Henry VIII" where Cardinal Wolsey seeks shelter at Leicester Abbey. After he fails to obtain a divorce for the king from Catherine of Aragon he is arrested after falling ill while being escorted under arrest to London–these events follow the cardinal's failure to obtain a divorce for the king. After he enters the abby, Wolsey will die there. Westall's dynamic composition was inspired by Rubens famous painting "The Meeting of Abraham and Mechizedek" (now National Gallery of Art, Washington DC) which the artist could have known through engravings.
