Clarence's Dream (Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 1, Scene 4)

William Blake|Thomas Stothard|John Johnson|William Shakespeare

1774 · Etching and engraving · Drawings and Prints

When just seventeen, Blake engraved this design by Stothard for William Enfield's "The Speaker, or Miscellaneous Pieces Selected from the Best English Writers." Kneeling in the foreground, the Duke of Clarence looks over his shoulder at an accusing spirit chillingly described in Shakespeare's Richard III: Then came wand'ring by, A shadow like an Angel, with bright hair Dabbled in blood, and he shriek'd aloud: "Clarence is come, false, fleeting perjur'd Clarence, That stabb'd me in the field by Tewkesbury, Seize on him, furies, take him to your torments!"

Artist

William Blake|Thomas Stothard|John Johnson|William Shakespeare

Date

1774

Medium

Etching and engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917