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#0029
2. Valentin Green, Mrs. Yates as Melpomenę, mezzotint
after Romney, Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe
The contemporary English painting was strongly influenced by the doctrine of the Great
Style in Reynolds' version'. Reynolds, engaged by Garrick for Drury Lane as an artistic adviser,
had to cooperate with the latter in his reformative work. Garrick abandoned the highly conven-
tionalized "Roman" costume, commonly used for the tragedy, attempting at the introduction
of antique realia. However, in the comedy repertory actors wore costumes patterned in relation
to contemporary garments as a result of different aesthetic convention.
Mrs. Abbington, poetized according to the artistic taste of the epoch as the Muse — that of
the Comedy — Thalia, brings to mind the genre trend in Reynolds' painting. Anticpie recraisits
such as the altar, the statuę are, it is true, introduced and the very attitude of the model is
7. Cf. E. "Wind, op. ci(., espe cially in the chapter III: "Great Style" und "simple Style", p. 179—182.
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after Romney, Warsaw, Muzeum Narodowe
The contemporary English painting was strongly influenced by the doctrine of the Great
Style in Reynolds' version'. Reynolds, engaged by Garrick for Drury Lane as an artistic adviser,
had to cooperate with the latter in his reformative work. Garrick abandoned the highly conven-
tionalized "Roman" costume, commonly used for the tragedy, attempting at the introduction
of antique realia. However, in the comedy repertory actors wore costumes patterned in relation
to contemporary garments as a result of different aesthetic convention.
Mrs. Abbington, poetized according to the artistic taste of the epoch as the Muse — that of
the Comedy — Thalia, brings to mind the genre trend in Reynolds' painting. Anticpie recraisits
such as the altar, the statuę are, it is true, introduced and the very attitude of the model is
7. Cf. E. "Wind, op. ci(., espe cially in the chapter III: "Great Style" und "simple Style", p. 179—182.
23