RSA Scottish Art
The Cid and the Five Moorish Kings
 | Artist: William Ewart Lockhart |
| Title: The Cid and the Five Moorish Kings | |
| Year: 1880 | |
| Medium: oil on canvas | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA Diploma Collection | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| Description: William Ewart Lockhart was fascinated by Spain and all things Spanish, and made several journeys to that country. He painted the Spanish landscape and its people and also drew inspiration from its history and literature.The Cid and the Five Moorish Kings is taken from John Gibson Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads (1823). The scene depicts a historic moment from the life of the popular hero, El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, c.1030-1099), when he captured the city of Valencia from the Moors. This jewel-like painting is a small-scale study which was intended to be a preparatory sketch for a more finished painting on a larger scale. A watercolour version of this painting is in Perth Museum & Art Gallery.This study has given Lockhart a chance to explore the colour palette and tonal balance he would use in the final painting. Bright highlights reflect off the surface of El Cid's armour, and Lockhart has worked with different coloured reflections from the area surrounding it. The tonal range is very broad, ranging from the heavy shadows in the background and some of the clothing to the bright highlights in the foreground. The palette is warm, which may have been chosen to emulate sunshine, but the painting may also have acquired a yellow patina with age. The deep shadows in the background focus our attention on the brightly lit figures. The composition reads from left to right. Almost all of the gazes are directed at the queen or princess sitting on the right. The bowed heads of the two Moorish kings further direct the eye to this figure. This is a scene of capitulation - the Moors are literally kneeling in defeat but the composition leads us always back to the victorious female monarch and the armour-clad hero. | |
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