King of Sorrows, by William Shakespeare Burton (1824-1916). Oil on canvas. 53 ½ x 43 ½ inches (135.9 X 110.5 cm). Private collection. Image reproduced from Case Auctions (see bibliography) by kind permission.
Burton exhibited this work at the Royal Academy in 1897, no. 416, after an absence of twenty-one years. It had previously been on display from September 1896 to January 1897 at the Graves Gallery in Pall Mall in London, which makes its acceptance unusual since it obviously flouted the rule that no work that had been previously exhibited was eligible for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Burton's later work dealt frequently with religious subjects, such as The World's Gratitude, but this is by far the most important of these late works. Burton was obviously a deeply religious man as well as being a spiritualist. In King of Sorrows he portrays Christ as a man of sorrows sitting on a Middle Eastern rug and stone bench in a prison cell having recently been tortured by Roman soldiers. An inscription in Latin "Rex Judaeorum" (King of the Jews) is carved into the stone bench Jesus is sitting on. He is wearing crimson robe, suggestive of a Roman soldier's military cloak, the colour of which was meant to represent royalty. A crown of thorns is on his head and a reed stick as a scepter is held in his right hand. This iconography is taken directly from Matthew, Chapter 27, verses 28-29: "And they stripped him, and put on a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!" Military weapons used by Roman soldiers, particularly the type of spear or lance that would have been used by Longinus to pierce Christ's side when he hung on the cross, are scattered around his feet in the foreground, as is an aquila, a Standard surmounted by an eagle, that would have been carried by a Roman legion. The Roman scourge or flagrum, a short whip made up of three leather staps with knots connected to a handle that was used to torture Christ prior to the crucifixion is depicted lying on the stone bench to his left. The small cluster of crushed grapes to the lower left of the composition are an example of typological symbolism, representing the blood shed by Christ during his passion and crucifiction. Mary Cowling had these comments on this work:
the red robe which dominates this sizeable painting must indeed have created a dramatic effect. At floor level, a Roman Eagle and the points of several lances encircle Christ in a threatening manner, indicating the position of the mocking soldiers. A robe fashioned from a hastily torn down curtain and the use of a dagger to fix the cloak in place illustrate the impulsive nature of "this travesty of adoration." [82]
When this work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1897 it was not widely reviewed despite its quality, likely because its style would have been considered quite "old-fashioned" by this time. Only the faithful F.G. Stephens, a member of the original Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, made an effort to review it, but even he gave it a mixed review in which he focused his major criticism on the intrusiveness to the picture of the rug on which Christ sat:
The King of Sorrows (416), by Mr. W.S. Burton, the artist of the famous 'Puritan' of many years ago, is a picture we saw lately at the Graves Gallery. It is dry, somewhat harsh and cold, as well as much injured by the needless intrusiveness of a crudely coloured piece of drapery, upon which Christ is seated in mock state, for the sake of which the simplicity and homogeneity of the whole picture have been most absurdly sacrificed. It is, however, only right to call attention to the severe dignity and moving pathos of a very noble figure. [751-52]
Bibliography
Cowling, Mary. "William Shakespeare Burton (1824–1916)". British Art Journal XV No. 2 (Winter 2014/15): 77–86.
Dibdin, E. Rimbault. "William Shakespeare Burton." The Magazine of Art, 1900: 289-95.
Lot 329: William Shakespeare Burton Oil, King of Sorrows. Case Auctions. https://caseantiques.com/item/lot-329-william-shakespeare-burton-oil-king-of-sorrows/
Purcell, John S. "A Veteran Artist: Mr. William Shakespeare Burton," The English Illustrated Magazine XXXV (1906): 238.
Stephens, Frederic George. "The Royal Academy." The Athenaeum No. 3632 (June 5, 1897): 750-52.
"The Royal Academy Exhibition." The Morning Post (1 January 1897): 5.
Created 17 June 2024