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David Garrick as King Lear (Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 3, Scene 1)

1761
Not on view
Garrick, who spearheaded the eighteenth-century Shakespeare revival, appears here as King Lear. In the play, the king is cast out by his power-hungry daughters, and wanders on a stormy heath attended by the faithful duke of Kent, and by Edgar, disguised as Poor Tom. The image reflects Nahum Tate's revised version of the play, staged in London between 1681 and the early nineteenth century, where the role of the Fool is removed, Lear and Cordelia do not die, and the princess marries Edgar.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: David Garrick as King Lear (Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 3, Scene 1)
  • Engraver: James McArdell (Irish, Dublin 1729–1765 London)
  • Artist: After Benjamin Wilson (British, Leeds 1721–1788 London)
  • Sitter: David Garrick (British, Hereford 1717–1779 London)
  • Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
  • Date: 1761
  • Medium: Mezzotint; first state of two, proof before letters
  • Dimensions: Sheet (trimmed to plate): 16 3/16 × 20 1/4 in. (41.1 × 51.4 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.3.911
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Mr. Garrick in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4, James McArdell Irish, Mezzotint
Mr. Garrick in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4
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Junkernboden, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner German, Color woodcut, working proofs recto and verso; recto: black ink with traces of yellow and green ink and wax crayon; verso: black, pink, dark red, and two shades of green ink
Junkernboden
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Mr. Garrick in the Character of King Lear (Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 3, Scene 1), James McArdell Irish, Mezzotint; second state
Mr. Garrick in the Character of King Lear (Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 3, Scene 1)
Multiple artists/makers
1761
Alto Recorder, Joseph Bradbury British, Wood, ivory, British
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