Lot 239: Edward Matthew Ward R.A. , British 1816-1879 marie antoinette oil on canvas

signed l.l.: E. M. Ward/ R.A. oil on canvas

measurements note 63.5 by 84 cm., 25 by 33 in.

Ward painted a number of works depicting the plight of the French Royal family. The prime version of the present work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1856 (no.75). Ward also executed the same subject in watercolour, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1862 (no.798). Both exhibits were well received; the critic for Art Journal described the larger oil version thus,'The character and the accessories of the picture-the poignant distress on the one side, and the course insolence on the other, with the peculiar personalities, declare the subject as unmistakably an incident in the history of the royal family of France after the first revolution' and goes on to declare 'Upon the whole we think, it cannot fail to be pronounced the best of the pictures which the artist has executed from the history of these "unfortunates"'(Art Journal, June 1856, p.163).