The Murder of the Princes in the Tower, King Edward V (1470-1483?) and his Brother Prince Richard Duke of York (1473-1483?) (from William Shakespeare's 'Richard III', Act IV scene iii)

James Northcote painted the Murder of the Princes in the Tower in 1786, depicting the legendary killing of Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, as dramatized in Shakespeare's Richard III. Northcote, a student of Reynolds and a prolific history painter, engaged with Shakespeare as a primary source for historical subjects throughout his career, as did most painters of his generation who sought to elevate British painting to the level of continental history painting. The Princes in the Tower had gripped the popular imagination since Tudor times, and Shakespeare's Richard III provided the dramatic framework that made the subject accessible and resonant for eighteenth-century audiences. The choice of a nocturnal, dungeon setting with terrified children creates a scene of psychological horror that aligns with the emerging Gothic sensibility of the period. The National Trust holds this painting as part of its collection of British historical and literary subjects from the period when such works were at the center of debates about the proper direction of British painting.

The painting employs a dark, dramatic interior with theatrical lighting that illuminates the vulnerable princes against the shadowy figures of their murderers, following the Romantic tradition of using chiaroscuro to heighten psychological tension in historical subjects. The carefully researched medieval costume and Tower setting reflect the nineteenth-century commitment to archaeological accuracy in history painting.