Jane Shore: "Give gentle mistress Shore one gentle kiss the more (Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 3, scene 1)

Francesco Bartolozzi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Intended to portray Edward IV's mistress Jane Shore, this print appeared in "Shakespeare Illustrated by an Assemblage of Portraits and Views Appropriated to the Whole Suite of our Author's Historical Dramas," published by Edward and Sylvester Harding between 1789 and 1793. The image derives from paintings at Eaton College and Kings College, Cambridge now thought to represent Diane de Poitiers, a lover of the French king Henry II. Lines from "Richard III" link the image to Shakespeare, and those familar with English history will likely recall that Richard's many cruelties included forcing his deceased brother's mistress to walk barefoot through London in penance for adultery.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art