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
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
