All’s Well that Ends Well. Act II. Scene III. The King, Helena, Lords, &c. [graphic]

All’s Well that Ends Well. Act II. Scene III. The King, Helena, Lords, &c. [graphic]

Pressly title: Helena and Count Bertram before the King of France

[1793]

1 painting : oil on canvas ; 78.5 x 56.2 cm + frame: 41 3/4 x 32 3/8 x 4 1/2 in.

canvas

Title from Boydell Shakespeare Gallery catalog.

Date from Pressly based on receipt from 28 October 1793, "Received from Messrs. Boydell eighty-four pounds for four pictures from 'All's Well' and 'Much Ado,' in full." Although the print of the Folger painting wasn't published until 1 September 1797, it must have been one of those four pictures because the only other Boydell painting Wheatley did for those plays was the large-format act 5, scene 3, which had already appeared in the 1790 printed catalog. None of the other four appeared in the 1795 catalog of small pictures; all four appeared in the 1796 catalog of small pictures.

Canvas measurements when frame removed for conservation in 2025: 31 1/8 x 22 1/8 x 1 1/8 inches.

Engravings: Luigi Schiavonetti, published 1 September 1797, for 1802 Boydell edition of Shakespeare's plays, facing p. 35 of All's Well That End's Well, 11 3/16 x 6 3/4 in. (border of image and margin)

Mary Webster, "Frances Wheatley," London, 1970, no. 101; Friedman 1976, pp. 178 and 242, repr. pl. 97.

Original tacking edges cut off
The picture has been severely abraded in the upper left quadrant and in the background around the king's legs

Provenance: Commissioned by Alderman John Boydell for the Shakespeare Gallery for 20 guineas; sold by lottery 28 January 1805 and won by William Tassie; sold by Christie 18 May 1805, no. 9, as "The King, Helena and Lords," bought by a Mr. Salteri for 5 guineas (£5.5.0)

G. Michelmore & Co., Rare Books, Autographs, Manuscripts, 5 Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall, London SW1, July 1923, £125 (£250 for this painting and a work by Cattermole)

Exhibited: London, Boydell Shakespeare Gallery, "A Catalogue of Small PIctures Painted for the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall-Mall," (bound with the 1796 edition of the catalogue of the large paintings, but the number sequence begins again at "1"), 1796, no. 43; London, Boydell Shakespeare Gallery, "A Catlogue of the Pictures &c. in the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall-Mall" and "A Catalogue of Small Pictures Painted for the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall-Mall" (only one number sequence for both large and small paintings), 1802, no. 109; London, Boydell Shakespeare Gallery, "The Exhibition of the Shakspeare Galley, Pall-Mall," (last time paintings were shown together; preparatory to their sale), 1805, no. 36; a photograph of the painting was included in the exhibition "Francis Wheatley RA," 1747-1801, held at the Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts, 15-25 June, and Leeds, City Art Gallery, 8 July-8 August 1965, no. 104, as "The King, Helena and Lords"; Washington, D.C., Federal Reserve Board, "Eighteenth- and Nineteenth Century English Painting," 1976-1977, no. 24; 'As imagination bodies forth...' [paintings] Oct. 28, 1993-Feb.15, 1994; Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library, "Beyond Home Remedy," 2011.
Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library, 2007. Marketing Shakespeare.

Pressly, W.L. Paintings in the Folger Shakespeare Library, 87 (Plate 5)

Great Britain -- England.

FPa85

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