A Scene from Gil Blas

This 1839 scene from Alain-René Lesage's picaresque novel Gil Blas, the adventures of a resourceful young Spaniard through the social strata of early modern Spain, reflects Maclise's wide literary interests extending beyond Shakespeare to French and Spanish literature. Gil Blas had been enormously popular in English translation since Smollett's version of 1749, and its combination of social satire, adventure, and comic observation of human types made it a natural subject for a painter of Maclise's narrative gifts. Such literary subjects complemented his Shakespearean work by extending his range to continental European literature while maintaining the narrative engagement and figure-painting opportunities that characterized all his best work.

The picaresque scene is rendered with the vivid characterization and precise period detail that made Maclise one of Victorian Britain's most accomplished literary painters.