The Execution of Lady Jane Grey

A girl kneels blindfolded on a black platform, her fingers reaching forward, feeling for something she cannot see. That something is an oak block with an iron ring, placed dead centre at the bottom of the canvas — the destination every reaching finger points toward. This is The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, painted by Paul Delaroche in 1833. Jane was the Nine Days' Queen, deposed by Mary Tudor and beheaded at the Tower of London in 1554, aged about sixteen. ### The staging Delaroche arranges five life-sized figures on a shallow, theatrically lit stage. Jane's white satin gown blazes against the gloom — radiance standing in for the innocence of a girl caught in a power struggle she never chose. Sir John Brydges, Lieutenant of the Tower, stoops to guide her hands, painted as the gentlest presence in the room. To the left, a lady-in-waiting has collapsed under grief, Jane's discarded jewels spilling into her lap; a second attendant turns her face to the wall and refuses to look. ### The beautiful lie Look closely at the executioner. His axe is lowered, his eyes downcast — almost another mourner. But his hose are painted blood-red, the one violent colour in a hall of greys and browns. Historically, Jane was executed outdoors and, by all accounts, died bravely. Delaroche invented the blindfolded groping to break your heart, and it works. Lost for decades and rediscovered in a basement in 1973, the painting now hangs in the National Gallery, London. For another staged death scene painted in the same era, see The Death of Sardanapalus, or browse more narrated art shorts.