Mrs. Abington as Thalia
Beauty and talent propelled Fanny Barton (later Mrs. Abington) to fame, from humble beginnings as a flower girl and milliner's assistant. Associated with the Drury Lane Theatre, she excelled in contemporary comic roles by Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Colley Cibber and, in Shakespeare's plays, performed Ophelia, Desdemona, Beatrice and Portia. Horace Walpole compared her favorably to Garrick, and the artist James Northcote noted that, "in her acting she has all the simplicity of nature and not the least tincture of the theatrical." In this image she embodies Thalia, the muse of music, dance, comedy and idyllic poetry, to crown Shakespeare with laurels.
Artwork Details
- Title: Mrs. Abington as Thalia
- Engraver: Francesco Bartolozzi (Italian, Florence 1728–1815 Lisbon)
- Artist: After Richard Cosway (British, Oakford, Devon 1742–1821 London)
- Publisher: Simon Watts (British, active London 1767–87)
- Sitter: Frances Abington (British, London 1737–1815 London)
- Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
- Date: 1783
- Medium: Stipple engraving and etching; working proof, printed in brown ink
- Dimensions: Plate: 10 3/4 x 8 1/2 in. (27.3 x 21.6 cm)
Sheet: 11 3/8 × 8 13/16 in. (28.9 × 22.4 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
- Object Number: 59.500.888
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Francesco Bartolozzi
Hans Holbein the Younger
ca. 1794–1802
Francesco Bartolozzi
Hans Holbein the Younger
ca. 1794–1802
Francesco Bartolozzi
n.d.
Multiple artists/makers
1765–1800
Francesco Bartolozzi
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham
1750–1815
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