Interview of Edgar and Elfrida after her Marriage to Athelwold, 18th century (oil on canvas)

Angelica Kauffman RA (Chur 1741 – Rome 1807). Oil painting on canvas, Interview of Edgar and Elfrida, after her marriage to Athelwold by Angelica Kauffman RA (Chur 1741 – Rome 1807). Elfrida stands on the left, with her attendants one of whom holds a curtain aside and reveals her to King Edgar who is accompained by two courtiers and a dog. According to the legend, Edgar the Peaceable in 963, sent his favourite and most trusted Earl Athelwold to meet Edgar’s intended bride Elfrida, the daughter of Ordgar the Earl of Devonshire. On meeting Elfrida, Athelwold was smitten with her beauty and married her. The scene painted shows the moment when King Edgar, suspicious, arrives at their castle in Devon to meet Athelwold's wife and is angry at being deceived by his trusted servant who claimed she was no beauty. She was also angry at being denied the opportunity of marrying a king. Later on a hunt in the Harewood Forest, Edgar kills Athewold and marries Elfrida, who becomes Queen and subsequently the mother of King Etheldred II, having killed Edgar's first son by his first marriage, Edward 'the Martyr' after his death. Saltram, Devon (Accredited Museum)