Oil Painting-georges Clint-repudiation Of Queen Catherine Of Aragon-1830

GEORGE CLINT English portraitist and engraver 1770-1854 REPUDIATION OF QUEEN CATHERINE OF ARAGON THE ANGLICAN SCHISM 1533 Painting painted around 1830 George Clint perhaps considered as the specialist painter of paintings of Shakespearean theatrical scenes (Falstaff in Henry IV, Julius Caesar , Macbeth)... Around 1816, his studio at 83 Gowerstreet, was a privileged place where the main actors and actresses of the time met. A series of dramatic scenes he painted, such as "William Farren, Farley, and Jones as Lord Ogleby, Canton, and Brush", were the source of his popularity. In our painting George Clint paints a theater scene from Shakespeare's famous play: “Henry VIII". In the center of the painting stands Catherine of Aragon, whose role is played by the actress Sarah Siddons (1755-1831), a role she played until 1802. Queen Catherine of Aragon is repudiated by her husband, King Henry VIII of England. “Sire with a crestfallen face” who can be seen to the right of the painting, seated on a chair, slumped on his sword. Facing the queen, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey lives, without knowing it, his last moments of grace with the king. On his right, probably two female companions of the queen, one in tears, is it Anne de Boleyn? Another supports her. To the left of Cardinal Wolsey stands a priest holding in his right hand the episcopal crosier and in his left hand, at the end of a staff, Christ on the cross. Catherine points to these two religious attributes while staring firmly at the bishop, as if to tell him that he must rely on their commands, under penalty of divine punishment: the crozier symbolizing the crook of the good shepherd walking at the head of his faithful, and Christ incarnate on Earth in the Pope: As a sign of obedience, two children of the heart are kneeling in prayer behind the bishop. Behind the king, a cloud of armed men contains the crowd gathered there to witness the queen's dismissal. In the distance we can see the ramparts of London, a banner flutters in the wind under a stormy and threatening sky which does not bode well for England and its king. In the 19th century, Henry VIII was one of the most popular Shakespeare plays in Britain. At least two reasons for this: after Lady Macbeth, Sarah Siddons played the role of Desdemona, Rosalind, Ophelia, and Volumnia, where she was acclaimed; but it was in the role of Queen Catherine of Aragon in Henry VIII that she discovered a role almost as well suited to her acting talent as that of Lady Macbeth. For more than twenty years, undisputed queen of the Theater Royal at Drury Lane, she once confided to the historian Samuel Johnson that Catherine was her favorite role, because it was the most natural. The second reason, and not the least, is linked to the historical nature of the play: the repudiation of Queen Catherine will indeed forever change the religious landscape of England. Henry VIII, in love with Anne Boleyn, had asked his faithful Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1529 to intercede on his behalf with the Pope so that the latter would pronounce his divorce from Catherine. Faced with the prevarications of his cardinal, and not wanting to displease either the pope or the king, he also saw himself stripped of his religious authority and definitively fell into disgrace. It was Archbishop Crammer, Archbishop of Canterbury who pronounced the divorce, supported by the English people. This event caused the definitive break with Rome, what we call the Anglican schism. 60cm x 74cm 77cm x 90cm