King Henry IV

ca. 1827

Not on view

Heath’s satire mocks George IV and his mistress Elizabeth, Marchioness Conygham, with the title intended to echo a well known work by Henry Fuseli that shows the fat knight Falstaff at the Boar's Head Tavern, canoodling with Doll Tearsheet, in a scene from Shakespeare’s "King Henry IV, part II." The painting was hung in Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery, on Pall Mall in London between 1789 and 1805, and was engraved by William Satchwell Leney (see 42.119.534).

Artwork Details

Title: King Henry IV
Artist: William Heath ('Paul Pry') (British, Northumbria 1794/95–1840 Hampstead)
Publisher: Thomas McLean (British, 1788–1875)
Subject: George IV, King of Great Britain and Ireland (British, London 1762–1830 Windsor)
Subject: Elizabeth Conyngham, Marchioness Conyngham (British, 1769–1861)
Subject: Henry Conyngham, 1st Marquess Conyngham
Subject: Sir William Curtis (British, 1752–1829)
Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
Date: ca. 1827
Medium: Hand-colored etching
Dimensions: Plate: 14 1/2 × 10 1/4 in. (36.8 × 26 cm)
Sheet: 16 15/16 × 11 1/4 in. (43 × 28.5 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund and Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, by Exchange, 1970
Object Number: 1970.541.139
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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