A demon from a 1789 painting has bared its long, sharp fangs once again following a restoration effort that removed the layers of paint and varnish that shrouded the fiend for years.in which the king bids farewell to his dying great-uncle, Cardinal Beaufort. In the original painting, a devilish-looking creature peers out from the dark shadows above the head of the dying cardinal.
“It didn’t fit in with some of the artistic rules of the times to have a poetic figure of speech represented so literally in this monstrous figure,” explained John Chu, senior national curator for pictures and sculpture for the U.K.’s National Trust, in a statement. “When it was first shown at the Shakespeare Gallery in 1789 it generated more controversy than any other work on show.”
It was considered acceptable in Reynolds’ time for literature to introduce demons and monsters that existed in people’s minds, but some thought visually representing them made them all too real, according to Chu. The Shakespeare Gallery created prints for sale, and the engraver who produced the print plates for a second run in 1792 removed the demon.