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Prince Arthur and Hubert
painting
Yeames, William Frederick R.A.
Europe, United Kingdom, England
1882
1883.19
First floor: Victorian
Oil paint on canvas
201.3 x 125.8 cm
Prince Arthur and Hubert 1882
William Frederick Yeames 1835 - 1918
Oil on canvas
The rope on the floor to the right of this picture
reveals Hubert's dreadful purpose.
Little Prince Arthur must be bound
and his eyes burned out with hot irons
at the order of King John, the child's uncle.
Hubert's face expresses his emotional struggle
between compassion and fear of disobeying the King.
The scene occurs in Shakespeare's play King John
which is very loosely based on historic events
following the death of Richard the Lionheart in 1199.
One reviewer found the painting trivial and anti-heroic
but another commended it for its human appeal as:
'a scene in which deep pity for the helpless is aroused'.
Purchased 1883.19
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