Seeking sitter identity, ‘Portrait of an Actor of the Covent Garden Theatre Company’, 1811
Portrait of an Actor of the Covent Garden Theatre Company, 1811, attributed to Henry William Pickersgill R.A.
This portrait of an unnamed actor of the Covent Garden Theatre Company is dated 1811 and attributed to Henry William Pickersgill R.A.
The inscription on the old labelon reverse of the present portrait refers to an actor of the Covent Garden Theatre Co.¹
The sitter is presumably one of the company of Regency actors under the stage management of the actor/manager John Philip Kemble in 1811. The present sitter shows a very strong resemblance with large forehead and strong jaw to Charles Farley who was in the Covent Garden troupe with his Timour the Tartar, May 1811, aged 40 (see engraving below). More investigation is needed to confirm if our sitter is a young Charles Farley or another actor in the troupe of 1811.
Please use the Comments box below to share your ideas.
-
Oil on cradled panel, 17½ x 14½ in, frame 23 x 20 in. Indistinctly inscribed on remnants of old label verso ‘?Portrait of Master…of Covent …Theatre. Painted by …Pickersgill. Exhibited at London 1811?’. The panel, sometime ago cradled, is impressed with the stamp ‘G. Morrill’. George Morrill (c.1812-1865) was a picture restorer who worked extensively for the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Royal Collections and other prominent collectors.
Portrait of an Actor of the Covent Garden Theatre Company, 1811, attributed to Henry William Pickersgill R.A. Verso
Portrait of an Actor of the Covent Garden Theatre Company, 1811, attributed to Henry William Pickersgill R.A. Verso detail
Charles Farley as Cloten in ‘Cymbeline’ by Thomas Woolnoth, published by Simpkin and Marshall, after Thomas Charles Wageman, stipple engraving, published 1821. NPG D38673. © National Portrait Gallery, London
Portrait of an Actor of the Covent Garden Theatre Company, 1811, attributed to Henry William Pickersgill R.A.
Comments
In 1811, Pickersgill exhibited a portrait of ‘Master Dourousset of Covent Garden Theatre (No. 426)’ at the exhibition of the Royal Academy. See p23 here https://bit.ly/2vhTPNz
I found no further substantial information about the sitter. kind regards, Andrea
Master Dourousset, aka John Duruset (1796-1843) was a singer known as the “Young Musical Roscius”. He appeared at both the Drury Lane and Covent Garden theatres. The British Museum has a print of him in the role of Oberon: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3465944&partId=1&searchText=duruset&page=1 whilst the V&A has a drawing of him by A E Chalon in a stage production of Rob Roy Macgregor: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O766585/drawing-of-john-duruset-in-caricature-portrait-sketch-chalon-alfred-edward/ Both images accord with the likeness in the above portrait, and support Andrea’s proposition that it is H W Pickersgill’s 1811 Royal Academy exhibited portrait of the singer. The sitter’s obituary can be found in The Gentleman’s Magazine for April 1844: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XU5IAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA438&lpg=PA438&dq=J.+Duruset&source=bl&ots=J8_uXUh2-m&sig=QDsc-8mu7kuKMdmZ9hwgOz3B36I&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwie-fmHlKTdAhVoLMAKHcKzB0wQ6AEwCHoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=J.%20Duruset&f=false
Many thanks Scott!
I agree that Dourousset / Duruset is highly likely. There is a Christie’s stencilled stock number on the back, which may pre-date the loss of much of the rear label. If so, the sitter may have been identified in the catalogue of the sale where it appeared. If you ask them nicely Christie’s Archive will look it up for you – a kindness for which I am often grateful – and tell you what sale that was. If it passed through their hands more than 50 years ago they should also be able to to give you the names of both the vendor and the purchaser.
It is a very nice portrait indeed.