Cathedra
Walnut, 16th century
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Tag Archives: 1700s
Falstaff Examining Prince Hal from Henry IV
Oil on canvas, c. 1789
Robert Smirke, R.A.
English, 1752–1845
Understanding the subject matter of a painting deepens one’s understanding and appreciation. In addition, understanding an artwork’s purpose at origination and its pathway to the present can enrich one’s esteem for the piece.
Such is the case for the Museum & Gallery’s painting, Falstaff Examining Prince Hal, by the artist Robert Smirke who memorializes a key scene in William Shakespeare’s play Henry IV (Part 1, Act 2, Scene 4). The wayward Prince Henry V (also known as Prince Harry or Hal) passes time with his drinking companions, listening to a tall tale from the corpulent old Falstaff. In the middle of this conversation a nobleman arrives at the door of the pub to tell Hal that his father, King Henry IV, wishes to see him at the palace the following morning. Hearing that a civil war is brewing, Falstaff offers to help Harry prepare for his audience with the king through role-play. Falstaff pretends to be King Henry IV (who watches this play-acting in the form of a royal portrait on the wall), scolding Hal for his frivolous living and rascal companions. This frozen moment in Shakespeare’s play brilliantly conveys the tension between Prince Harry’s irresponsible past and the expectations of his royal future.
It is fair for viewers of the painting to wonder why Robert Smirke, a member of the Royal Academy of Arts from 1786 to 1813, would choose to illustrate this play (or, indeed, any work by Shakespeare), and the answer points to a unique endeavor in the Golden Age of British art.
One man who became an engine for change was John Boydell (1720-1804). He was an engraver by training, publishing his first book of engravings in 1746, the first year of his own business. Boydell enlarged his business by buying plates from other engravers and selling their prints in addition to his own, a novel approach in his time. He also began importing prints from the Continent, most of which came from French artists (the undisputed masters of engraving at the time). Most pieces Boydell sold illustrated literary subjects and specific events in contemporary history.
Boydell recognized an imbalance between the desirability of British prints compared to French prints, and he set out to change it. He knew there would be no change until British engraving could compete on even footing. To do that, Boydell needed a “truly spectacular” print. He commissioned William Woollett, the leading British engraver of the time, to engrave a specific painting by Richard Wilson. The project was a tremendous success. Within ten years, Britain was exporting more prints than it imported from the Continent.
Success gave Boydell the financial freedom to engage in other projects, and the final two decades of his life were devoted to a massive Shakespeare project (which was the impetus for M&G’s Falstaff Examining Prince Hal painting and many others).
The scope of the project was considerable, having three components. The primary focus was a newly edited and illustrated volume of Shakespeare’s plays. Boydell took on responsibility for the illustrations, while George Steevens, a prominent Shakespeare editor, oversaw the text. Boydell engaged numerous British artists for this undertaking.
The second component in the Shakespeare project was a public gallery of paintings depicting scenes from Shakespeare, employing some of the finest artists of the era (including Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin West, and Henry Fuseli). When the Shakespeare Gallery opened to the public in 1789, it had 34 paintings, growing to a total inventory of between 167 and 170 works. Robert Smirke, the artist behind M&G’s work, contributed 26 paintings, the largest number by any single artist.
The final portion of Boydell’s Shakespeare project was to produce a folio of prints based upon the paintings in the Shakespeare Gallery. It is through this folio that we know the rough inventory of the gallery, of which only about 40 paintings can be confidently identified today.
At this point the larger history of Europe intervenes. Due to the French Revolution and subsequent wars between France and its neighbors, Boydell’s trade with Europe became increasingly difficult. Eventually it fell off almost completely. For his business to survive, Boydell was forced to sell the Shakespeare Gallery, and he was almost bankrupt at the time of his death in December 1804.
The mechanism agreed upon for the sale was a lottery of 22,000 tickets, each costing three guineas. Every purchaser of a ticket was guaranteed to receive a print from Boydell’s stock, valued at a minimum of one guinea; 64 winners would receive more valuable prizes; and one person would win the grand prize of the gallery and its paintings. Although Boydell died before the January 1805 lottery was drawn, he had seen the sale of all 22,000 tickets.
William Tassie, a gem engraver and cameo modeler, won the gallery. Though he was approached with an offer to sell the gallery’s contents, thus preserving the collection, he insisted upon selling the individual paintings at the Christie’s 1805 auction from May 17-20.
Surviving documents illuminate the travels of Smirke’s Falstaff Examines Prince Hal from Day One of that May 1805 auction to its home in the Museum & Gallery collection. In fact, our painting went across the Christie’s sales floor two additional times—in 1830 and again in 1962. Between those sales, it spent 25 years in one private collection and 132 years with multiple generations of another British family. M&G is grateful to be its home, sharing such a storied piece in person and online.
Dr. Stephen B. Jones, M&G volunteer
You can see this painting in person in M&G’s current exhibition, Who Needs Shakespeare?, on view in the Gustafson Fine Arts Center on the campus of Bob Jones University.
Bibliography
Boydell, John. The Boydell Shakespeare Prints. Arno Press, 1979.
Shakespeare Illustrated: The Artists, Emory University
Christie’s. Important English Pictures and Drawings: c.1650-c.1960. Christie’s, November 1962. Auction Catalog.
Published 2026
The Resurrection with Feasts
Tempera on panel
Unknown Russian
18th century
Russian icons have been part of M&G’s collection since our inaugural opening in 1951. Our founder, Dr. Bob Jones Jr., collected these uniquely symbolic works along with the Old Masters throughout the decades, including this interesting panel acquired in 1996—the year before his passing.
The central scene is surrounded by twelve smaller scenes identified by inscriptions and portraying the twelve major ecclesiastical feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which are celebrated throughout the year. This type of icon is referred to as a calendar icon—a suitable focus as we turn the page on the New Year and a year in which M&G celebrates our 75th anniversary.
An image like this is read from left to right. Beginning with the top row (left corner), the illustrated events are:
- The Nativity of the Virgin: observed September 8
- The Presentation of Mary in the Temple: observed November 21
- The Annunciation: celebrated March 25
- The Nativity of Christ: celebrated Christmas Day, December 25
- The Presentation of Christ in the Temple: celebrated February 2
- The Baptism of Jesus: celebrated January 6
- Entry into Jerusalem: celebrated on Palm Sunday
- The Transfiguration: celebrated August 6
- The Ascension: celebrated 40 days after Easter
- The Holy Trinity (for Trinity Sunday, known as Pentecost): celebrated 50 days after Easter
- The Exaltation of the Cross: observed September 14
- The Dormition of Mary: observed August 15
Finally, the centerpiece features the victorious, resurrected Christ, which is celebrated on Easter Sunday. All of the other feasts lead up to or follow this great event. Additionally, the central image includes a number of elements from the Harrowing of Hell as described in the apocryphal book of Nicodemus (part II).
Observe the incredible amount of detail crowded into this central scene! Just below the risen Christ, He is shown again as standing triumphant over Hell (represented here as the realm of the dead) with the broken gates underfoot. On the left, He welcomes Adam and Eve and other Old Testament saints in a procession of people exiting the red mouth of Hell (lower left with a few visible teeth) toward the entrance of Paradise on the top right. To the right of Christ are Abel (murdered by Cain), Kings David and Solomon, and John the Baptist led by the good thief crucified with Christ, who is showing his cross to Enoch and Elijah as justification for his entrance into Paradise.
The lower right corner pictures the Biblical narrative of Jesus walking on the water to the disciples in the boat and Peter sinking after his failed attempt to stride the waves. On the top left, Peter peers into the empty tomb discovering the burial garments. Just below him are the angels led by Michael the archangel helping protect the procession of saints to Paradise.
Like the Western European audiences who viewed Old Master paintings, so the Byzantine and later Greeks and Russians were largely illiterate, relying on the pictures at church for scriptural understanding and church teachings. An icon like this one would have been made personally for the home of the devout. In a traditional Russian home, families would place their icons on a special shelf in a corner, known as the “beautiful corner.” By including an icon of the annual feasts in the display, every day would be lived in light of Christ’s victory over sin, Satan, and death.
Erin R. Jones, M&G Executive Director
Published 2026
Mr. Garrick in the Character of Richard III
William Hogarth
From the Riley Collection of Works on Paper
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From the Riley Collection of Works on Paper
Esau and Jacob Presented to Isaac
Benjamin West, P.R.A.
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You can learn more about the entire series by West and M&G’s significant collection from the series HERE.
In 1780 King George III commissioned Benjamin West to create a series of paintings for his new Chapel at Windsor Castle. It’s estimated that he completed 18 of the proposed 35 paintings planned for the chapel, and M&G has the largest set of existing works from the series. To learn more click HERE.
This intriguing 18th-century painting provides a valuable reminder for all of us to consider our choices in light of a coming eternity.
Mrs. Siddons as Lady Macbeth
George Henry Harlowe
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Meissen Vase
Porcelain, Mid-19th century
Ernst August Leuteritz
German, 1818 – 1893
Augustus II was elector of Saxony, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Lithuania. In the early 1700s he established Saxony as one of the most economically advanced areas of Europe and built himself a magnificent residence in Dresden where he maintained a lavish court. He was obsessed with the highly fashionable porcelain pieces imported from China and had a large collection of “white gold” (an appropriate name, for some of the more desirable pieces of Chinese porcelain were virtually worth their weight in gold). His collection not only impressed guests, it depleted his treasury. He was in constant need of the metallic variety of gold.
About 1700 in Prussia, a bright young apothecary’s apprentice, Johann Böttger, was bragging that he had found the goldmachertinktur (translation: gold maker tincture), a concoction that could convert base metals into gold. In an attempt to put the lad in his place, the apothecary asked Böttger to demonstrate the transmutation. The procedure was done under close supervision, and it worked! It produced several ounces of highly refined gold. (Böttger never revealed how he performed the trick, nor was it ever repeated.) The Prussian king learned of the success at making gold and seeing a way to fill his treasury, had Böttger put in “protective custody.” Knowing what happened to alchemists who failed to produce gold for their royal masters, Böttger panicked, escaped, and fled.
Böttger made it to Saxony. There his Prussian pursuers would not have authority to apprehend him. However, Augustus II learned of Böttger’s transmutation and had him captured and placed in a dungeon-like, medieval fortress. He could purchase his freedom with gold. Eventually the quantity demanded would not only fill the treasury, but also add some significant white gold pieces to Augustus’ collection. At one point Augustus even alerted the mint to be ready to strike coins with the gold that would soon be arriving. It never came.
Ehrenfried von Tschirnhaus, an educated German mathematician and scientist, was trying to make porcelain by heating various white materials to high temperatures. His experiments either failed or made a type of glass. Since Böttger did not seem to be progressing in producing a goldmachertinktur, Augustus hired Tschirnhaus to supervise Böttger’s work. Originally Böttger looked down on Tschirnhaus’ experiments but realizing that perhaps white gold might spare his life, Böttger took interest in Tschirnhaus’ work.
A white clay mined near Meissen, a small town 16 miles from Dresden, contained kaolin and when mixed with various other materials, produced porcelain. Experimentation refined the recipe and eventually a porcelain equal to that imported from China, was made.
Augusts named Tschirnhaus director of the porcelain factory he planned to establish in Meissen. The white clay mines were nearby, and Meissen was on a major river so the wood needed for the kilns could be easily delivered. In 1708, before the factory could be built, Tschimhaus died suddenly. A few months later Böttger was named head of the Saxon Royal Porcelain Manufactory, the first factory to produce hard-paste porcelain in Europe.
Sculptors were hired to mimic the shapes of oriental pieces, and chemists were brought in to develop colored and clear glazes. The Meissen manufactory, as it came to be known, became highly profitable. Böttger’s living conditions greatly improved, but he did not completely regain his freedom. He remained director of Augustus’ manufactory until his death in 1719.
In the following 300 years, the Meissen manufactory constantly produced porcelain pieces. Sometimes the company was well managed and produced high quality, fashionable, and much sought after works. At other times, Meissen struggled under a variety of challenges including contaminants in the clay, export tariffs, limited production, outdated designs, and political turmoil (such as Napoleon and, later Hitler). Once Sèvres in France and both Minton and Wedgewood in England perfected porcelain production, Meissen’s bottom line suffered.
As mass manufacturing methods of porcelain and decoration became perfected, Meissen faced a decision: use modern methods to produce quantities of inexpensive pieces or continue with handcrafted and hand painted pieces. The company decided to produce only high quality, handmade and hand-decorated pieces. Present day Meissen pieces can be as valuable as the very old ones.
Ernst August Leuteritz and M&G’s Schlangenhenkelvase
Ernst August Leuteritz was born in Fischergasse (city near Meissen) in 1818 and became an apprentice in the Meissen manufactory at 18 years of age. He immediately demonstrated exceptional abilities in modeling and embossing. The next year he was given a stipend for a year’s leave of absence to study under Rietschels at the Art Academy in Dresden. Being very timid, he found the experience extremely difficult and returned to Meissen after a short stay; however, he was convinced to complete his training. His artistic growth and refinement of skills led Meissen to extend his leave for further studies. After several years he returned to the manufactory and was promoted to the position of “Modeler.” In 1849 he became Meissen’s “Head of Design,” a position he held until his retirement in 1886. He died in 1893.
During his tenure with Meissen, Leuteritz designed hundreds of ornate figurines, centerpieces, candlesticks, serving dishes, vases and virtually every other type of porcelain piece imaginable. Today his works are found in many museums and personal collections and fetch high prices at auctions.
Leuteritz designed several vases adorned with serpents. In 1853 he designed the schlangenhenkelvase (translation: snake-handled vase) in M&G’s collection. It is an amphora shaped vase on an ornately-sculpted, round pedestal. On each side a pair of snakes emerge from acanthus leaves, forming a loop and resting their heads on the rim. The schlangenhenkelvase in M&G’s collection was very popular in the second half of the 19th century and came in different sizes. M&G’s vase is 19 inches high and 13 inches wide.
The body of M&G’s vase is a deep garnet with accents of gold and white. The gold on the leaves and snakes appears worn in areas. The vase, however, still maintains its original gold application.
The Meissen Hallmark
The secret formula for making porcelain was protected by Meissen, until it was leaked to Austria through corporate espionage. By 1717, a factory in Vienna began producing porcelain; and by 1760, there were thirty European porcelain manufactories. In order to identify Meissen pieces, blue underglaze markings were added.
By 1720, the crossed swords from the Elector of Saxony’s coat of arms were introduced and by official decree in 1731, was required to appear on all Meissen porcelain. Meissen’s crossed-swords logo is among the oldest and longest used trademarks, as well as being among the most often forged. Variations of the sword’s curvature, hilt placement as well as other embellishments help to date the pieces. Since the hallmark was hand painted, there is considerable variety even among authentic logos.
Under the base of M&G’s schlangenhenkelvase is the blue underglaze Meissen crossed-sword logo. Experts recognize it as genuine. The mark indicates that this vase was possibly made in the late 19th or first quarter of the 20th century. The underglaze “67” identifies the garnet painter, and the gold “2” indicates either the painter of the gold or that M&G’s vase may be one of a set.
Now the good news: you can have your own authentic schlangenhenkelvase without having to search the internet or attend an art auction where fake vases have been known to exist. Meissen still manufactures schlangenhenkelvase as part of their Masterworks Collection. They are not stock items; each one is produced to order and includes hand painted floral bouquets on the amphora. View the strikingly beautiful vase you could own by clicking on the Purchase a Vase link below. However, be prepared for a bit of a shock.
William Pinkston, Retired Educator and M&G volunteer
References
Video of the discovery of how to manufacture porcelain
Video of Meissen manufacture of porcelain, including a schlangenhenkelvase being painted
The Book of Meissen (Schiffer Book for Collectors) by Robert D. Rontgen
Meissen Porcelain Identification and Value Guide by Jim and Susan Harran
Published 2024
St. John the Evangelist on Patmos
Carved Walnut Relief
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