Paul Delaroche, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey

We're in the National Gallery looking at a large history painting. This is by Paul Delaroche, a French painter who specialized in French and English history. This is the execution of Lady Jane Grey. Who reigned as Queen of England for just nine days. And we see her seconds before her beheading. The Privy Council had turned against her. And instead of being crowned at the Tower of London, she was arrested, accused of treason, and executed at Tower Hill. And Mary Tudor becomes Queen. And importantly, Mary is Catholic, whereas Lady Jane Grey was Protestant. At a time when those factions were still vying for power. Delaroche based the scene he depicted on a 16th century book where, as she approached the spot for her beheading, she asked, what shall I do? Where is the block? Look at the tentativeness of her fingers as she seeks out that wooden block. And because she's blindfolded, she symbolizes this innocence, this helplessness. And that is accentuated by the delicacy of her body as her arms and her whole body are guided forward by the much larger male figure, an official of the Tower. And his gentleness as he just barely touches her stands in such terrible contrast to the violent act that is about to happen. We see Lady Jane Grey dressed in her petticoat. Her overgarments are being held on the lap of her lady-in-waiting. And straw is spread out around the block. We know that that will turn red in just a moment. And then on the right, the executioner, who seems so nonchalant. He holds the axe so lightly that it seems that it could literally slip out and fall. The figures are all very close to us. The background is faint and the light focuses us on the figures. And there's nothing between us and Lady Jane Grey herself. And we can't help but think, what is she feeling? What would I feel? And the fact that none of the figures look at us. We interpret this moment, these emotions, for ourselves. It's almost as if this is a staged production, that every decision that the artist makes is to reveal the psychological intensity of this moment. It's a fabulously successful composition with Lady Jane Grey in the center, the male figure almost like a halo around her because of the golden color of the fur that he wears. The figures on either side balance Lady Jane Grey. And the fact that, at least from where we're sitting, we don't see a single brushstroke. The painting has what was called in the 19th century a perfect finish. That is, the picture is smooth and we don't have a sense of the presence of the artist, which leads us to believe that what we're looking at is the truth of what happened. And that's so different from most of the art that we now study. One of the most important artists in the 19th century was Eugene Delacroix, who was seeking to reinvent the way that paintings were made and made use of visible brushwork, vibrant color, elements that called attention to the process of making the painting. Whereas here, the artist has gone to enormous pains to hide the process of making the painting so that we can be completely lost in the narrative. Where Delacroix gives us visible brushwork, colored shadows, Delaroche gives us the kind of modeling and creation of three-dimensional forms that was very traditional. Delaroche is taking a long tradition of history painting and reinventing it for a 19th century audience, an audience that sought clear narrative, that sought emotion. So this is painted in the early 1830s during the July Monarchy. The king at the time is Louis-Philippe. There's been a revolution that brings him to power. In fact, we can think of Delacroix's painting of that revolution and the desire for liberty and freedom that that painting captures. There's been a revolution, and yet France is still ruled by a king. Louis-Philippe represented moderation between the extremes of revolution and those that called for a traditional conservative monarchy. Louis-Philippe actually used the phrase just milieu, I will reign from the middle, from a moderate position. We know, however, that his government was not liberal enough and another revolution will follow in 1848. And the artist that we study at that moment is Gustave Courbet, who refers to himself as a revolutionary, as a socialist. And Courbet is famous for composing paintings of workers, of everyday people, of even a rural middle class in the guise of history painting on a large, heroic scale, the same scale that Delacroix uses. So it's really interesting to look at this painting and think about the kind of popular art that entertains a broad middle class audience in between these revolutionary moments. And here in the National Gallery in the 21st century, it continues to entertain. This painting is wildly popular.