Maria Stuard condotta al patibolo (Mary Stuart Being Led to the Scaffold)
1827
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
1827
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
This crowded scene shows a woman in dark clothes kneeling on a scaffold, her hands bound. Around her, a mix of soldiers in armor and people in old-fashioned clothes watch. One man in robes stands above her, holding a sword, while others stand nearby with serious faces. The background looks like a church with tall windows and a banner that says something in Latin. The woman’s calm face stands out against the tense crowd. The artist used sharp lines to show every fold in the clothes and every worried face in the crowd. Look up lithography to see how this kind of print was made.
