The Preaching of Knox before the Lords of the Congregation, 10th June 1559

The Preaching of Knox at the National Gallery, painted in 1832, depicts the Scottish reformer John Knox preaching to the Lords of the Congregation in 1559. This pivotal moment in Scottish Reformation history was a significant historical subject for Wilkie. As Principal Painter in Ordinary, Wilkie occupied the summit of the British art establishment, and his late royal portraits and Middle Eastern subjects reflect his ambition to expand beyond the Scottish genre subjects that had made his name.

Knox's commanding figure dominates the assembled lords from his pulpit. The varied reactions of the congregation create a complex study of individual responses to radical preaching.