King Lear in the Storm

Henry Brintnell Bounetheau copied a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, president of the Royal Academy in England, to make this miniature. Such copies were common practice among miniaturists and full-scale painters alike. In Shakespeare’s King Lear the storm signifies the onset of the king’s madness, after he discovers the betrayal of his two elder daughters. Conservation of this miniature was made possible through a generous grant provided by the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.