Reading the Will is an 1820 genre painting by the British artist David Wilkie. It is inspired by a scene from the 1815 novel Guy Mannering the Waverley series by Walter ScottTromans p.97 although this was not widely appreciated by contemporary critics.
The painting was commissioned by Maximilian I of Bavaria. It was displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1820 at Somerset House in London.Tromans p.10 Today it is in the collection of the Neue Pinakothek in Munich.
See also The Reading of the Will Concluded, an 1811 painting of a similar theme by Edward Bird
References
Bibliography Macmillan, Duncan. Scottish Art, 1460-2000. Mainstream Publishing, 2000. Tromans, Nicholas. David Wilkie: The People's Painter. Edinburgh University Press, 2007.