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Rating: 
Summary: A VOLUME TO BE SAVORED
Review: Jane Martineau, formerly Curator and Editor in the Exhibitions Office of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, has made an outstanding contribution to Shakespeare, theatre, and art lovers alike. "Shakespeare In Art"with over eighty paintings accompanied by descriptive essays and enriched by eleven scholarly essays is a veritable panoply of paintings by artists who selected Shakespeare's characters as their subjects. With Hogarth's representations of Falstaff examining his Troops, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and many more we are reminded of the then burgeoning relationship between theatre and painting. It is noted that "The illustrating of Shakespeare, which was to reach gigantic proportions by the end of the eighteenth century, had begun very modestly in England in 1709........" George Romney, we learn, was obsessed by the story of King Lear throughout his life. Romney's magnificent King Lear in the Tempest tearing off his Robes is apt testimony to this artist's predilection. William Blake's pen and watercolour "As if an Angel dropp'd down from the clouds" from Henry IV is unforgettable. "Shakespeare In Art" is not to be hurriedly scanned but leafed through at leisure and forever treasured. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: A VOLUME TO BE SAVORED
Review: Jane Martineau, formerly Curator and Editor in the Exhibitions Office of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, has made an outstanding contribution to Shakespeare, theatre, and art lovers alike. "Shakespeare In Art"with over eighty paintings accompanied by descriptive essays and enriched by eleven scholarly essays is a veritable panoply of paintings by artists who selected Shakespeare's characters as their subjects. With Hogarth's representations of Falstaff examining his Troops, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and many more we are reminded of the then burgeoning relationship between theatre and painting. It is noted that "The illustrating of Shakespeare, which was to reach gigantic proportions by the end of the eighteenth century, had begun very modestly in England in 1709........" George Romney, we learn, was obsessed by the story of King Lear throughout his life. Romney's magnificent King Lear in the Tempest tearing off his Robes is apt testimony to this artist's predilection. William Blake's pen and watercolour "As if an Angel dropp'd down from the clouds" from Henry IV is unforgettable. "Shakespeare In Art" is not to be hurriedly scanned but leafed through at leisure and forever treasured. - Gail Cooke
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