The Ides of March (painting)

The Ides of March
Artist	Edward Poynter
Year	1883
Medium	Oil on canvas, history painting
Dimensions	153 cm× 112.6 cm(60 in× 44.3 in)
Location	Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester

The Ides of March is an 1883 history painting by the British artist Edward Poynter. ^[1] It portrays the lead-up to the Assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, as depicted in William Shakespeare's Elizabethan play Julius Caesar . It makes reference to the Ides of March, with Julius Caesar and his wife Calphurnia spotting a comet in the night sky, confirming the warning of his impending death made by a soothsayer. In the shadowy room she implores her husband not to visit the Senate where his enemies with murder him. It was part of a fashion for paintings set in Ancient Rome produced during the Victorian era ^[2]

Today the painting is in the collection of the Manchester Art Gallery, having been purchased from the artist in 1883. ^[3]

References

1. Barrow p.109
2. MacCarthy p.351
3. https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-ides-of-march-205859

Bibliography

• Barrow, Rosemary J. The Use of Classical Art and Literature by Victorian Painters, 1860-1912: Creating Continuity with the Traditions of High Art. Edwin Mellen Press, 2007.
• MacCarthy, Fiona. The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination. Harvard University Press, 2012.