The Taming of the Shrew, by Augustus Leopold Egg. Oil on canvas, 61.5 x 101.5 cm. Leicester Museum & Art Gallery. Accession number L.F19.1947.0.0. Purchased from the sale of the effects of J. Moore, 1947. Click on image to enlarge it.
ArtUK explains that the painting depicts a scene from The Taming of The Shrew (act 4 scene 1) with Katerina, Petruchio and servants. Egg contributed six works to the three-volume The Complete Works of Shakspeare [sic] published 1839-42, but this was not one of them.
Egg, one of the few Royal Academicians who sympathized with the works of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, generously supported the young painters, several times providing William Holman Hunt financial assistance to complete his works for exhibition. The wrinkled tablecloth, wine jug, and tipped over wine goblet are the kind of details that John Everett Millais and Hunt depicted meticulously, and Egg’s including them suggests that they influenced his work, which therefore must derive from the late 1840s and early ’50s.
Details from the painting
[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the ArtUK and Leicester Museum & Art Gallery and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. — George P. Landow.]
Bibliography
The Complete Works of Shakspeare [sic] Containing the Illustrations of Kenny Meadows, Frith, Nicholson, Courbould, Hayter, etc.. Volume 2 (Comedies). London and New York: The London Printing and Publishing Company, n.d. [1839-42] Hathi Trust online version of a copy in the University of California Library. Web. 6 August 2021.
Last modified 17 August 2021