This charming late 19th-century oil painting by British artist Charles Hunt (1803-1877) depicts two theatrical children dressed as royalty, while others look on. Hunt was an accomplished painter and engraver known predominantly for equestrian prints and genre scenes.The central characters with their arms raised in peril appear to be cowering from their inevitable fate. They’re dressed in medieval costumes and conceivably acting out the last throes of a Shakespearian tragedy. However, that said, over on the right there’s a young lad with a bicorn hat, so perhaps they’ve simply raided the dressing-up box…Born in London in 1803, Hunt was raised amid the drama of the Regency period when distant Napoleonic cannons grew closer every day and the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. Writers, such as Jane Austen, Lord Byron, and John Keats, were providing the literary backdrop and the theatres were alive with interest.Little is known about his training but evidently he could dra...