53.txt ‘King Richard Playing to the Court’, by Richard Doyle
King Richard Playing to the Court

King Richard Playing to the Court

Richard Doyle

Hand-coloured wood engraving by the Dalziels

4¾ x 3½ inches

Titmarsh, M. A. [W. M. Thackeray],Rebecca and Rowena, facing 30.

King Richard as a gigantic bore who forces everyone to listen to his performance. Doyle effectively captures the tedium of the moment by contrasting the monarch’s vivacity with the bewildered expressions of his audience. The composition exemplifies his gift for comic portraiture and distortion of scale.

Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke.

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