The Banquet Scene in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'

Maclise's 1840 Banquet Scene from Macbeth depicts the moment when Banquo's ghost appears at the feast, one of Shakespeare's most theatrically challenging scenes. The ghost visible only to Macbeth while the assembled company sees nothing gave Victorian painters the opportunity to depict a crowd scene with dramatically contrasting reactions — some responding to Macbeth's wild behavior, others bewildered by what appears to be unprovoked madness. Maclise's command of crowd psychology and his ability to differentiate multiple expressive reactions within a single composition made Shakespearean crowd scenes among his most impressive achievements, and the Macbeth banquet provided an ideal test of these skills.

The composition radiates outward from the ghostly apparition, with each figure's reaction precisely calibrated through Maclise's sharp draftsmanship and carefully directed lighting effects.