Focus on this artwork and discuss the Critics.
The first version received little response from critics at the exhibition in the Royal Arts Academy.The second version was widely praised and admired by critics at the time. It received a particularly positive response in Paris, where a favorable review appeared in the Journal des arts. Jacques-Louis David dismissed it as  "a caricature of Rubens," but Napoleon Bonaparte was said to admire it. King George III, however, reportedly called the painting a "Bedlamite scene," perhaps in reference to his personal experience with mental illness.The final version had mixed critical opinions as well. A writer in Mirror Art admired the "mysterious gloom" of the painting, describing it as "a picture that strikes at first sight." New York and Boston audiences were less enthusiastic.
King George III George III