| Preview | Description | Artist
  | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Le Malade Imaginaire by Charles Robert Leslie 1843 Victoria and Albert Museum London, UK | Leslie, Charles Robert |  Critics admired this depiction of Moliere's 1673 satirical comedy The Hypochondriac, particularly the figure of the fierce doctor Purgon. He has just listed the frightful diseases that the terrified Monsieur Argan will suffer, because Argan's sensible brother would not permit the horrible treatment prescribed. |
 | Dulcinea Del Toboso by Charles Robert Leslie 1839 Victoria and Albert Museum London, UK | Leslie, Charles Robert | The title of this painting comes from Cervantes' comic novel Don Quixote (1605). The fanciful aristocratic name 'Dulcinea Del Toboso' was given by Don Quixote to a pretty peasant woman. The eccentric Don believed that he was her protector and she was a 'great lady or Princess'. She was unaware of his fantasies. |
 | Griselda by Charles Robert Leslie 1840 Victoria and Albert Museum London, UK | Leslie, Charles Robert | Here Leslie has illustrated a character from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The long-suffering heroine Griselda in 'The Clerk's Tale' was a popular subject with 19th-century artists becuase she represented patience and loyalty, both considered to be desirable character traits in Victorian women, especially wives. The same sitter appears in a... |
 | The Toilette by Charles Robert Leslie ca. 1849 Victoria and Albert Museum London, UK | Leslie, Charles Robert | This picture was also called The Necklace. The sitter was reputedly a beauty of mixed Irish and Spanish descent, famous for her 'raven black hair and arched eyebrows'. She also sat for Leslie's picture of Griselda |
 | The Principal Characters In The Merry Wives Of Windsor by Charles Robert Leslie ca. 1838 Victoria and Albert Museum London, UK | Leslie, Charles Robert |
- Victoria and Albert Museum
