Charles Robert LeslieAmerican, 1794–1859Sancho Panza
May one see it?
Yes, receiving visitors
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Object Type
Oil paintings such as this with subjects taken from popular literature steadily replaced commissions for history paintings in the early 19th century. The public and most collectors of modern works moved to a preference for lighter and sometimes more sentimental themes.
Subjects Depicted
Read on
In Cervantes' novel Don Quixote, the adventures of the Don's servant, the lazy, greedy and completely unidealistic Sancho Panza, was the source of many humorous and, to modern tastes, cruel adventures. Here the gourmand Sancho Panza is shown enduring what was to him a torment. A physician is waving an ivory wand and peremptorily ordering his food to be removed as soon as he has only tasted it. The Victorian public found this harsh treatment amusing and the effect is increased because Sancho and his surroundings are not caricatured, but could be a recognisable portrait. One reviewer for The Examiner wrote: 'The eyes of Sancho are despairingly fixed on this grim emblem of perpetual disappointment; and the heartsick discontent which his countenance exhibits is infinitely humorous.'
People
Although Charles Robert Leslie (1794-1859) had begun as a history and portrait painter, he soon turned to literary themes. The collector John Sheepshanks (1787-1863) owned 17 paintings by Leslie with subjects taken from well-known authors, such as Shakespeare, Chaucer and Molière.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- FA.132[O]
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
