Lear Casting out his Daughter Cordelia
1792
Medium
Stipple etching and engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 50.1 × 63.4 cm (19 3/4 × 25 in.); Sheet: 55 × 68 cm (21 11/16 × 26 13/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
122067
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
King Lear tells the tragic tale of a king driven to madness. Flattered and manipulated by his disingenuous older daughters into giving them his lands, Lear banishes his youngest daughter, the devoted Cordelia, in the scene depicted here. This print is based upon Henry Fuseli’s painting of the same subject, created for the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in London, which the publisher had reproduced for the wider commercial audience of Shakespeare enthusiasts throughout Britain.
About the Artist
Richard Earlom · 1728–1794
Richard Earlom (1743–1822) stands as one of the supreme masters of mezzotint engraving in British art history, whose technical virtuosity and dedication to reproductive printmaking brought the works of Old Masters to unprecedented audiences. Born in London on May 14, 1743, Earlom spent his entire career transforming paintings and drawings into prints of extraordinary quality, elevating reproductiv...