DOI Heft:
No. 1
DOI Artikel:Wyleżyńska, Jolanta: Two mezzotint portraits of the illustrious British actresses of the 18th century: some aspects of the classicistic taste in England
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17161#0027
Jolanta Wyleżyńska
TWO MEZZOTINT PORTRAITS OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS BRITISH
ACTRESSES OF THE 18th CENTURY
SOME ASPECTS OF THE CLASSICISTIC TASTE IN ENGLAND*
In the collection of the mezzotint portraits of famous British actors in the Department of
Prints of the National Museum in Warsaw there are two remarkable and well-preserved
prints, which reflect well two different stylistic trends in English art and the stage coiwention
of the 18th century — the portrait of Mrs. Mary Anne Yates (ca 1728—1787) as Melpomenę by
Valentin Green1 after George Romney and that of Mrs. Frances Abbington (1737 —1815) as
Thalia by James Watson2 aftcr Joshua Reynolds.
Both the actresses, outstanding as they were in their epoch, belonged to Garrick's troop.
An anonymous English print in the British Museum3, rather primitive and undoubtedly inten-
ded for popularizing purposes, shows several illustrious actors of the troop in the characters
of personages created by them. Both the actresses are there represented: Mrs. Abbington in a showy
robe-paniere as Estifania in Fletcher's play4 and Mrs. Yates in a stylized trailing cloth as Jane
Shore in Rowe's tragedy5.
Mrs. Abbington, even if started her theatrical career as a flower giri in London theatres, became
the first comic actress in Drury Lane and Covent Garden, when directed by Garrick. Her por-
trait as Thalia belongs to the best works of Watson, this esteemed interpreter of Reynolds,
after whom about 56 his plates were executed. The Warsaw print has preserved all of its rich
value transitions from intensive velvet darkness through differentiated greyish tonality of the
dress to the enlightened carnation of the model.
Mrs. Abbington is shown in whole length, standing, slightly turned to the left and resting against
a stony altar (Ag. 1). Herfree attitude apparently travests a pose, used sometimes for Muses in
Late Antiąue art6. The light muślin robe chemise, embroidered with bouquets and girdled with a
sash allows to see the feet in sandals put on white stockings. The head is slightly inclined, the
hair highly brushed off the forehead, forming at the top soft curles. In the left hand Thalia
holds a Greek theatrical mask. From the altar with the mask of a putto, carved at the front, the
heavy drapery flows down, which partially covers books and notes — the attributes of the Muse —
laid there. Behind the actress a standing statuę is partially visible. The landscape of the back-
ground is of the English garden type.
* The present article has heen written iii connection with the work taken up by the author on the catalogue of the collec-
tion of English prints prcscrved in the Department of Prints of the Museum. The collection includes, among others, two
hundred mezzotints dating from the end of the 17th to the beginnings of the 18th century. Two main phases, discernible
in the developmcnt of this technique, are well represented herc: the first of them, characteristic for its technical search
and intensified penetration into the problems of light, and the second one, focusing mainly and with great success on
technical solutions, the phase, covering the second half of the 18th century and considered usually — may be, slightly uni-
laterally — as the most brilliant period in the dcvelopment of the mezzotint techniąue. The prints, discussed here, belong
to the larger group of portraits of British actors and are connected with the second of the two phases.
1. (1735—1812); mezzotint, gr. fol., Inv.: 103, published by J. Boydel, London.
2. (1740—1790); mezzotint, gr. fol., Inv.: 88, published by L. Wcsson, London.
3. Reproduced in: J. Gregor, Weltgeschichte des Tlieatcrs, Wien, 1933, p. 508; see also Enciclopedia delio Spettacolo, I, Roma,
1954, p. 32.
4. Rule a Wije and Havc a Wije.
5. In this drama Mrs. Yates madę her debut in Drury Lane on the 25th February 1753; see Enciclopedia. ..op.cit. IX
Roma, 1962, p. 2043—2044.
6. See detail of the Sarcophagus of the Muses in the Louvre, reproduced in E. Wind, "Humanitatsidee und beroisiertes
Portrat in der englischen Kultur des 18. Jahrhunderts", Vonrage der Bibtiothek Warburg, 1930—31, Leipzig, 1932, p. 156
—229, plate 81.
21
TWO MEZZOTINT PORTRAITS OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS BRITISH
ACTRESSES OF THE 18th CENTURY
SOME ASPECTS OF THE CLASSICISTIC TASTE IN ENGLAND*
In the collection of the mezzotint portraits of famous British actors in the Department of
Prints of the National Museum in Warsaw there are two remarkable and well-preserved
prints, which reflect well two different stylistic trends in English art and the stage coiwention
of the 18th century — the portrait of Mrs. Mary Anne Yates (ca 1728—1787) as Melpomenę by
Valentin Green1 after George Romney and that of Mrs. Frances Abbington (1737 —1815) as
Thalia by James Watson2 aftcr Joshua Reynolds.
Both the actresses, outstanding as they were in their epoch, belonged to Garrick's troop.
An anonymous English print in the British Museum3, rather primitive and undoubtedly inten-
ded for popularizing purposes, shows several illustrious actors of the troop in the characters
of personages created by them. Both the actresses are there represented: Mrs. Abbington in a showy
robe-paniere as Estifania in Fletcher's play4 and Mrs. Yates in a stylized trailing cloth as Jane
Shore in Rowe's tragedy5.
Mrs. Abbington, even if started her theatrical career as a flower giri in London theatres, became
the first comic actress in Drury Lane and Covent Garden, when directed by Garrick. Her por-
trait as Thalia belongs to the best works of Watson, this esteemed interpreter of Reynolds,
after whom about 56 his plates were executed. The Warsaw print has preserved all of its rich
value transitions from intensive velvet darkness through differentiated greyish tonality of the
dress to the enlightened carnation of the model.
Mrs. Abbington is shown in whole length, standing, slightly turned to the left and resting against
a stony altar (Ag. 1). Herfree attitude apparently travests a pose, used sometimes for Muses in
Late Antiąue art6. The light muślin robe chemise, embroidered with bouquets and girdled with a
sash allows to see the feet in sandals put on white stockings. The head is slightly inclined, the
hair highly brushed off the forehead, forming at the top soft curles. In the left hand Thalia
holds a Greek theatrical mask. From the altar with the mask of a putto, carved at the front, the
heavy drapery flows down, which partially covers books and notes — the attributes of the Muse —
laid there. Behind the actress a standing statuę is partially visible. The landscape of the back-
ground is of the English garden type.
* The present article has heen written iii connection with the work taken up by the author on the catalogue of the collec-
tion of English prints prcscrved in the Department of Prints of the Museum. The collection includes, among others, two
hundred mezzotints dating from the end of the 17th to the beginnings of the 18th century. Two main phases, discernible
in the developmcnt of this technique, are well represented herc: the first of them, characteristic for its technical search
and intensified penetration into the problems of light, and the second one, focusing mainly and with great success on
technical solutions, the phase, covering the second half of the 18th century and considered usually — may be, slightly uni-
laterally — as the most brilliant period in the dcvelopment of the mezzotint techniąue. The prints, discussed here, belong
to the larger group of portraits of British actors and are connected with the second of the two phases.
1. (1735—1812); mezzotint, gr. fol., Inv.: 103, published by J. Boydel, London.
2. (1740—1790); mezzotint, gr. fol., Inv.: 88, published by L. Wcsson, London.
3. Reproduced in: J. Gregor, Weltgeschichte des Tlieatcrs, Wien, 1933, p. 508; see also Enciclopedia delio Spettacolo, I, Roma,
1954, p. 32.
4. Rule a Wije and Havc a Wije.
5. In this drama Mrs. Yates madę her debut in Drury Lane on the 25th February 1753; see Enciclopedia. ..op.cit. IX
Roma, 1962, p. 2043—2044.
6. See detail of the Sarcophagus of the Muses in the Louvre, reproduced in E. Wind, "Humanitatsidee und beroisiertes
Portrat in der englischen Kultur des 18. Jahrhunderts", Vonrage der Bibtiothek Warburg, 1930—31, Leipzig, 1932, p. 156
—229, plate 81.
21