_-_The_Merry_Wives_of_Windsor_-_215.2_-_Tabley_House.jpg&width=1200)
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Charles Robert Leslie·c. 1827
Historical Context
This painting of The Merry Wives of Windsor by Charles Robert Leslie from around 1827 illustrates Shakespeare's comedy, one of Leslie's favorite literary sources. Leslie, an American-born painter who spent most of his career in London, specialized in literary genre paintings drawn from Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Sterne. Romanticism (c.1800–1850) privileged emotion, imagination, and the sublime over classical reason. Romanticism embraced a wider range of subjects than any previous movement, from medieval legend to contemporary politics, from sublime landscape to intimate genre scenes, united by emotional intensity rather than formal type.
Technical Analysis
The literary scene demonstrates Leslie's theatrical approach to Shakespearean subjects, with vivid characterization and warm, convivial color that bring the comic scene to life.
_-_Queen_Katherine_and_Patience_-_FA.122(O)_-_Victoria_and_Albert_Museum.jpg&width=400)
_-_Amy_Robsart_(1532%E2%80%931560)_-_FA.123(O)_-_Victoria_and_Albert_Museum.jpg&width=400)
_-_A_Female_Head_-_FA.121(O)_-_Victoria_and_Albert_Museum.jpg&width=400)
_-_Don_Quixote_and_Dorothea_(from_Cervantes'_novel)_-_FA.119(O)_-_Victoria_and_Albert_Museum.jpg&width=400)
.jpg&width=600)