King Lear Casting Out His Daughter Cordelia (Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1)
first published 1792; reissued 1852
Medium
Stipple engraving; fourth state of four
Dimensions
image: 17 3/8 x 23 11/16 in. (44.1 x 60.1 cm) plate: 19 1/2 x 25 1/8 in. (49.5 x 63.8 cm) sheet: 21 3/4 x 27 15/16 in. (55.3 x 71 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gertrude and Thomas Jefferson Mumford Collection, Gift of Dorothy Quick Mayer, 1942
Accession Number
42.119.540
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking stipple engraving captures the pivotal moment from Shakespeare’s *King Lear* when the aging king banishes his loyal daughter Cordelia after she refuses to flatter him with extravagant declarations of love. Designed by the Swiss-born artist Henry Fuseli, whose dramatic compositions helped define the Romantic era’s taste for intense emotion and theatrical gesture, the print conveys the raw tension of the scene through expressive figures, swirling drapery, and the loyal hound that underscores themes of fidelity and betrayal. Published in 1792 by the enterprising London printmakers ...
About the Artist
Shearjashub Spooner|Richard Earlom|Henry Fuseli|John & Josiah Boydell|William Shakespeare (American|British|British|British) · 1809 |1760 |1786 |1564 –1859 |1797 |1804 |1616
American, Brandon, Vermont 1809–1859 Plainfield, New Jersey|British, ca. 1765–1797 London|British, 1786–1804|British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon