''Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Titania and Bottom'' is an 1851 oil-on-canvas painting by British artist

Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures at the bas ...

. Landseer was mainly known for his paintings of animals: this is his only painting of a fairy scene. The painting depicts a scene from the third act of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play '' A Midsummer Night's Dream''. It has been in the collection of the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

in Melbourne, Australia since 1932. The painting shows Titania, Queen of the Fairies, after she has been given a

love potion A love potion ( la, poculum amatorium) is a magical liquid which supposedly causes the drinker to develop feelings of love towards the person who served it. The love potion motif occurs in literature, mainly in fairy tales, and in paintings, ...

, embracing the temporary object of her love, the mechanical

Nick Bottom Nick Bottom is a character in Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' who provides comic relief throughout the play. A weaver by trade, he is famously known for getting his head transformed into that of a donkey by the elusive Puck. Bott ...

. Bottom has been also enchanted and has the head of an ass. They are observed by other fairy folk, and the scene is decorated with flowers and rabbits. The work measures . It was one of several paintings of scenes from works by Shakespeare commissioned by

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...

in 1847 to decorate the dining room of his house in London. Landseer was paid £450. Brunel left the choice of subject to the artists, and Landseer may have chosen this scene so he could include several animals. Other works were commissioned from

Charles West Cope Charles West Cope (28 July 1811, in Leeds – 21 August 1890, in Bournemouth) was an English, Victorian era painter of genre and history scenes, and an etcher. He was responsible for painting several frescos in the House of Lords in Lond ...

Augustus Egg Augustus Leopold Egg RA (2 May 1816, in London – 26 March 1863, in Algiers) was a British Victorian artist, and member of The Clique best known for his modern triptych '' Past and Present'' (1858), which depicts the breakup of a middle-class ...

Frederick Richard Lee Frederick Richard Lee (10 June 1798 in Barnstaple, Devon – 5 June 1879 in Vleesch Bank, South Africa) was an English artist. Life 1862 painting of the Rock of Gibraltar with Windmill Hill Barracks in view Lee was the son of Thomas Lee of ...

Charles Robert Leslie Charles Robert Leslie (19 October 1794 – 5 May 1859) was an English genre painter. Biography Leslie was born in London to American parents. When he was five years of age he returned with them to the United States, where they settled in Philad ...

, and

Clarkson Frederick Stanfield Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (3 December 179318 May 1867) was a prominent English painter (often inaccurately credited as William Clarkson Stanfield) who was best known for his large-scale paintings of dramatic marine subjects and landscapes. ...

. The painting was first exhibited the

Royal Academy summer exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, s ...

in 1851, and was immediately a popular success. It was praised by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

in her diary, and by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

, who admired the

white rabbit The White Rabbit is a fictional and anthropomorphic character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! ...

; the work may have influenced the white rabbit in his book ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...

''. After Brunel's death in 1859, the painting was sold at auction in April 1860 and acquired by

Lord Robert Pelham-Clinton Lord Robert Renebald Pelham-Clinton (15 October 1820 – 25 July 1867), known as Lord Robert Clinton, was a British Liberal Party politician. Background Clinton was a younger son of Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle, and Georgiana Eliza ...

for £2,800. After the death of Pelham-Clinton, it was acquired by

Adelbert Brownlow-Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow Adelbert Wellington Brownlow-Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow (19 August 1844 – 17 March 1921), was a British soldier, courtier and Conservative politician. Background and education Brownlow was the second son of John Egerton, Viscount Alford, eldest ...

, and later sold to

Sir William Quilter, 1st Baronet Sir William Cuthbert Quilter, 1st Baronet (29 January 1841 – 18 November 1911) was an English stock broker, art collector and Liberal/Liberal Unionist politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1906. Life Quilter was born at ...

. It was then sold to

Henry Lowenfeld Henry Lowenfeld in Polish, ''Henryk Loewenfeld'', (1 September 1859 - 4 November 1931) was a Polish-born British entrepreneur and theatrical impresario. He founded the Kops Brewery, the UK's first UK brewer of non-alcoholic beer, and built Lo ...

at Christie's in 1909 for £2,400 (the auction also included Holman Hunt's ''

The Scapegoat A scapegoat is a goat used in a religious ritual or the victim of scapegoating, the singling out of a party for unmerited blame. Scapegoat or The Scapegoat may also refer to: Places * Scapegoat Wilderness, a Wilderness Area in Montana ** Scapeg ...

''). After Lowenfeld's death in 1931, his widow sold the painting to the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (funded from the

Felton Bequest Alfred Felton (8 November 1831 – 8 January 1904) was an Australian entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist. Biography Alfred Felton was born at Maldon, Essex, England, the fifth child of six sons and three daughters of William Felton, ...

) where it remains today.

References

''Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Titania and Bottom''
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
''Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Titania and Bottom''
Google Cultural Institute
Isambard Kingdom Brunel's 'Shakespeare Room'
Hilarie Faberman and Philip McEvansoneya, the ''Burlington Magazine'', Vol. 137, No. 1103 (Feb., 1995), pp. 108–118, {{Brunel 1851 paintings Paintings by Edwin Henry Landseer Paintings in the National Gallery of Victoria Paintings based on works by William Shakespeare Rabbits and hares in art Works based on A Midsummer Night's Dream Donkeys in art Fairies in art