Doll Tearsheet, Falstaff, Henry and Poins (Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part 2, Act 2, Scene 4)

William Satchwell Leney|Henry Fuseli|John & Josiah Boydell|William Shakespeare

first published 1795; reissued 1852 · Stipple engraving; third state of three · Drawings and Prints

Fuseli was a life-long devotee of Shakespeare, first reading his works as a youth in Zurich, then sketching an elaborate mural scheme devoted to admired plays while in Rome during the 1770s. After settling in London, the artist contributed paintings to John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, launched in 1786 as an exhibition cum print-publishing scheme funded by subscribers. Leney's print reproduces Fuseli's conception of the irrepressible Sir John Falstaff, here chided by Doll Tearsheet in a scene from "King Henry the Fourth, part 2."

Artist

William Satchwell Leney|Henry Fuseli|John & Josiah Boydell|William Shakespeare

Date

first published 1795; reissued 1852

Medium

Stipple engraving; third state of three

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gertrude and Thomas Jefferson Mumford Collection, Gift of Dorothy Quick Mayer, 1942