David Garrick as Richard III at Bosworth

David Garrick as Richard III at Bosworth
Artist	Nathaniel Dance-Holland
Year	1771
Type	Oil on canvas, portrait painting
Dimensions	236.4 cm× 144 cm(93.1 in× 57 in)
Location	Stratford-upon-Avon Town Hall, Warwickshire

David Garrick as Richard III at Bosworth is an oil on canvas portrait painting by the British artist Nathaniel Dance-Holland, from 1771.

History and description

It depicts the British actor David Garrick in the title role of William Shakespeare's play Richard III . He portrays the king leading his army at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. ^[1] Dance-Holland had also adapted one of Shakespeare's other works as a history painting Timon of Athens rather than a portrait. ^[2] The actor-manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Garrick was at the height of his career when Dance-Holland painted him. Two years earlier he had overseen the Shakespeare Jubilee in the playwright's birthplace Stratford-upon-Avon. ^[3]

It was displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1771 in Pall Mall. ^[4] Today the painting is in the collection of Stratford-upon-Avon Town Hall, having been acquired in 1947. ^[5] William Hogarth had also earlier notably depicted Garrick in the role with his David Garrick as Richard III (1745). ^[6]

References

1. The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre 1737-1832. p.207
2. Barnden, McMullan, Retford & Tamblin p.51
3. Brewer p.325
4. Kenny p.189
5. Art UK
6. The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre 1737-1832. p.206

Bibliography

• Barnden, Sally & McMullan, Gordon & Retford, Kate & Tambling, Kirsten (ed.). Shakespeare's Afterlife in the Royal Collection: Dynasty, Ideology, and National Culture. Oxford University Press, 2025.
• Brewer, John. The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Routledge, 2013.
• Kenny, Shirley Strum (ed.) British Theatre and the Other Arts, 1660-1800. Associated University Presses, 1984.
• Swindells, Julia & Taylor, David Francis. The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre 1737-1832. OUP, 2014.