Macbeth and the Witches (from William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth') (unfinished)

Reynolds's Macbeth and the Witches from around 1786 represents his most ambitious engagement with Shakespearean subject matter — and remains unfinished, which itself tells a story about the late-career difficulties that failing eyesight imposed. The painting was created for John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, a project of extraordinary commercial and cultural ambition: Boydell commissioned the leading painters of the day to illustrate Shakespeare's plays, planning to sell engravings of the resulting works on an international market. Reynolds was among the most prestigious contributors, and his choice of the scene where Macbeth first encounters the witches reflects both the theatrical grandeur of the subject and his interest in depicting extreme psychological states. The work's unfinished condition — Reynolds abandoned it as his sight deteriorated — makes it a poignant document of his final years. Contemporary critics noted that the composition's central figures were powerful but that the witches' exact nature remained ambiguous, a quality that could be read as artistic subtlety or as evidence of the uncertainty that failing vision created. Now in a National Trust property, the canvas is a rare large-scale history painting in Reynolds's legacy.

The dramatic scene captures the supernatural encounter with theatrical lighting. Reynolds's handling creates a scene of Romantic Shakespearean drama.