Master Burke as Signor Sordini
Not on view
Considered a wonder of the stage, and known as the "Irish Roscius," the boy actor Joseph Burke appears here as one of six characters he performed in "The March of Intellect" at the Surrey Theatre, London between 1827 and 1830. This show premiered when Burke was just nine and included dancing, music and various accents. The character shown in this print is an Italian violinist (Burke was a skilled performer on the instrument), and the others included a child of eight, an Irishman, a lawyer, a British seaman, and Napoleon. A contemporary writer raved, Master Burke "is an immense favorite; in fact he might be termed one of the wonders of the world......In the Italian, we were astonished, delighted, nay enraptured with his exertions, beyond expression..in so young a child we never saw any thing like so much mind before...He is quite a master of his art, the stage is completely his own" (see 17.3.888-1074, and 17.3.888-1076 to 17.3.888-1079 for the other characters).
