Master Burke as Napoleon Bonaparte
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 the famous French general and emperor, and the others included a child of eight, an Irishman, an Italian violinist, a lawyer and a British seaman. A contemporary writer raved, "he is an immense favorite; in fact he might be termed one of the wonders of the world...The grand climax to the whole, was his personification of Napoleon. His attitudes, the reserve, sudden impulse, hasty strides, and dignity possessed by the above greatest hero in his day, in the whole world, was represented by Master Burke in such a superior style of histrionic art as to completely beggar all description...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 to 17.3.888-1077, and 17.3.888-1079 for the other characters).
