About this artwork

The King’s Quair (1867–8) is a folding screen: a type of furniture that was fashionable in Victorian homes. They were used to divide rooms or form alcoves depending on the arrangement of their panels (or leaves). Edinburgh-born artist William Bell Scott decorated this screen with scenes from The Kingis Quair (about 1423–37), a 15th-century poem in Early Scots attributed to King James I of Scotland (1394–1437). ‘Quair’ is a Scots word for ‘book’.
Each leaf illustrates an episode in the poem. First, James is shown writing his poem in Windsor Castle, near London, where he was imprisoned by the English. Next, he sees his future queen, Lady Joan Beaufort (about 1404–45), described as ‘Lady Jane’ on the screen, and falls in love with her. James then dreams that he visits the goddess Venus to ask her advice on wooing Lady Jane. Finally, a dove brings him a gillyflower (carnation) from Lady Jane as a token of her love. The screen was created for the industrialist James Leathart (1820–95), an important collector of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, who lived in Gateshead, North East England.

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Published September 2023

  • artist:
  • title:
    The King's Quair
  • date created:
    1867 – 1868
  • materials:
    Bodycolour, oil paint and glaze on paper, on canvas and wood support; gilded wood frame with tooled leather
  • measurements:
    Four panels, each: 175.20 x 58.30 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Gift 2001
  • accession number:
    NG 2739
  • gallery:
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William Bell Scott

William Bell Scott