The New Murrey and Blue blog

I like to ‘create’ pictures with a Ricardian theme, but am not a gifted artist, and so I have been underhanded enough to ‘adapt’ the work of others. I do admit to doing this, and if I know the original artist/title, I say so. And I’m getting more adventurous as times goes one. My first efforts were really very amateurish. I like to think I’ve improved, but do not claim the credit for the brilliant brushwork that formed the painting in the first place, only for the Paint Shop Pro fiddling around that is all me.

When I saw “Call to Arms”, by Edmund Blair Leighton, the half on the right seemed a perfect representation of the moment Richard, only months into his reign, learned that his trusted cousin, the Duke of Buckingham, had turned on him in rebellion. Clearly Richard wasn’t getting married at the time, nor did he have shortish curly hair or an effeminate Pre-Raphaelite face, but still I knew the bridegroom figure could be turned into him, complete with White Rose pendant. The armoured figure on the right was ideal to be made into a Yorkist, wearing murrey and blue (naturally!) and Richard’s White Boar badge. His bushy moustache was a no-no, however, and the bride’s pretty little hand had to go from her groom’s sleeve.

The temptation was irresistible, and into Paint Shop Pro “Call to Arms” went, and out it came again looking rather different, but still the same painting. So, with all due respect to Edmund Blair Leighton’s mastery, here is the original painting, and then my tweak. The bluish haze on the tweak is due to my having used a different, higher resolution representation of the complete picture from the one I’ve posted here.