Pontefract Castle

I painted this castle after the 1640 painting of Alexander Keirincx (1600–1652). It is an acrylic painting of Pontefract Castle. Pontefract is famous for being a notorious prison, and is believed to be the place where Richard II was murdered. While historians debate that fact, Shakespeare immortalized the belief when he wrote “And him to Pomfret; where, as all you know, Harmless Richard was murder’d traitorously.” (Henry VI Part II, Act II Scene II). Pomfret is an early modern spelling variation for Pontefract. Lord River, in Shakespeare’s Richard III continues the notorious reputation for Pontefract when he says “O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison, Fatal and ominous to noble peers!” (III.3)