The painting is taken from Shakespeare at the moment when King Richard II is reproving John of Gaunt, his uncle. The figure in the background is John of Gaunt’s brother Edward Langley, Duke of Gloucester, and on the right appears Anne of Bohemia, Richard’s Queen. The King is exclaiming, ‘And thou a lunatic lean-witted fool, Presuming on an ague’s privilege, Dar’st with thy frozen admonition, Make Pale our cheek, chasing the royal blood with fury from his native residence …’.  Gaunt replies … ‘Life in thy shame, but die not shame with thee! – these words thereafter thy tormentors be! – convey me to my bed, then to my grave …’.  The artist’s reconstruction is entirely based on Shakespeare’s version with little to go on as to the  likenesses of the main characters.

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