King Lear Weeping over the Dead Body of Cordelia is a c.1788 oil painting by the Irish artist James Barry. It depicts a scene from William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear.Smith p.121 A grief-stricken Lear is shown supporting the body of his dead daughter Cordelia. To emphaise the Ancient British theme, Stonehenge is shown in the background.https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/barry-king-lear-weeping-over-the-dead-body-of-cordelia-t00556
The picture was commissioned by John Boydell for the new Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in Pall Mall. Barry was a prominent member of the Royal Academy of Arts known for his neoclassical paintings. In 1792 the printmaker Francis Legat produced an engraving https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/698831
The painting is now in the collection of the Tate Britain in Pimlico, which purchased it in 1962. https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/king-lear-weeping-over-the-dead-body-of-cordelia-117743
References
Bibliography Facos, Michelle. An Introduction to Nineteenth-Century Art. Taylor & Francis, 2011 Martineau, Jane. Shakespeare in Art. Merrell, 2003. Smith, Anthony D. The Nation Made Real: Art and National Identity in Western Europe, 1600–1850. OUP Oxford, 2013.