The Death of Christopher Marlowe, 1862. Oil on panel, 8½ x 10¼ inches (21.5 x 26 cm). Oil sketch, whereabouts unknown.
This is another work by Wallis dealing with literary figures from the Elizabethan period. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was a famous but controversial English dramatist, poet, and translator, best known for his Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. A warrant was issued for Marlowe’s arrest on May 18, 1593. No reason for it was given, although it was thought to be connected to allegations of blasphemous libel against the church. Marlowe was brought before the Privy Council for questioning, but ten days later, he was stabbed to death in a bar-room brawl by Ingram Frizer. Whether the stabbing was connected to his prior arrest or for other reasons has never been resolved.
Wallis’s painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1862, no. 80. Its current whereabouts in unknown but its composition is known from when it or a sketch for the picture sold at Sotheby’s Belgravia on March 31, 1981, lot 196. The critic of The Times in reviewing the painting when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy criticised Wallis for concentrating on the uglier aspects of the great man’s life:
The same question might be proposed to Mr. Wallis, who in his devotion to great men should not forget what is worthiest, as well as what is saddest, in their careers…But why recall Marlowe’s miserable end in a bagnio brawl? The corpse lies scarce seen amid the wreck of shattered chairs, upset candlesticks, flagons, and torn table-cover, by the light in the hands of the terror-stricken inmates of the foul place, who have gathered at the top of the stairs leading down to the room in which the brawl has taken place. Through the open window is seen the moonlit street with the assassins running away. [8]
The critic of The Athenaeum, likely F. G. Stephens, described the painting thusly: “Mr. H. Wallis’s Death of Christopher Marlowe (80) shows a figure lying prostate in a dark tavern-room, with a broken sword beside it, while some people enter with lights. An open window displays figures running away” (668). The Examiner commented
Mr. H. Wallis contributes two pictures, one of Raleigh [Sir Walter Raleigh in Durham House] looking out upon the port of London, the other of Marlowe lying slain in the dark after the night-brawl in the night-house where a dagger’s thrust let out the young life-blood of a poet grand above most others with the untamed energies of genius. The chairs and stools are over-thrown, the light of the overturned candle flickers out in a red gleam. Through the window we see the retreating forms of the assassins; from a room on one side, summoned by the silence after the accustomed riot, come with lights some of the loose women of the house.
Links to Related Material
- Another discussion of the painting
- Catalogue entry for the painting with the title A Crime of Passion
Bibliography
“Fine Arts. The Pictures of the Year.” The Examiner (May 3,1862): 279.
Lessens, Ronald and Dennis T. Lanigan. Henry Wallis. From Pre-Raphaelite Painter to Collector/Connoisseur. Woodbridge: ACC Art Books, 2019, cat. 47, 111-12.
Stephens, Frederic George. “Fine Arts. The Royal Academy.” The Athenaeum No. 1803 (May 17, 1862): 667-68.
“The Royal Academy.” The Times (May 8, 1862): 8.
Last modified 17 October 2022