Lot 19: CHARLES WEST COPE, R.A.

1811-1890 THE AWAKENING OF KING LEAR BY THE KISS OF CORDELIA signed l.c.: CWCope/ 1850 oil on canvas 102 by 153cm., 40 by 60in.

Royal Academy, 1850, no.39

Charles Henry Cope, Reminiscences of Charles West Cope, 1891, p.189

Painted for Isambard Kingdom Brunel's 'Shakespeare Room', the dining room of his home at Duke Street, St James'; Sold by his executors, Christie's, 28 April 1860, lot 221; John Marshall, his sale Christie's, 28 May 1881, lot 45 unsold; Christie's, 26 May 1888, lot 166 bought 'Ford'; Purchased by the present owner in 1988

The present picture was commissioned by the great civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel for his dining room which was decorated with pictures of Shakespearean subjects by Daniel Maclise, Charles Robert Leslie, Augustus Egg, Edwin Landseer and Clarkson Stanfield.