A King and a Horse with Ghostly Women

William Hamilton

1770–80 · Pen and brown ink, brush and brown and gray wash and watercolor, over graphite · Drawings and Prints

Hamilton belonged to a generation determined to expand the scope of the arts in Britain. He traveled to Rome as a teenager to study with Antonio Zucchi, returned to England to make decorative paintings for Robert Adam, then entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1769. From that point forward he focused on historical and literary subjects, together with portaits. This early drawing of an armored king with his horse, disturbed by a ghostly procession echoes a famous scene in Shakespeare's King Richard III, but may in fact illustrate a subject from Ossian.

Artist

William Hamilton

Date

1770–80

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brush and brown and gray wash and watercolor, over graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2015