Guy Little Theatrical Photograph
1850
photographic
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1850
photographic
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Guy Little Theatrical Photograph is a 1850 photographic by Byrne & Co, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This photo shows Courtenay Thorpe playing Hamlet in a late 1800s stage photo. Actors had these small, collectible photos made to sell and share. Called “cartes de visite,” they were the size of calling cards and hugely popular. The photo was taken by Byrne & Co, a studio that made these collectible prints. Cabinet cards replaced them later—bigger, sturdier, but short-lived. Look up Byrne & Co next.
This albumen print depicts Courtenay Thorpe in the role of Hamlet from a production of *Hamlet*, captured by Byrne & Co. The photograph, mounted on card with the photographer’s imprint, belongs to a collection of theatrical cartes de visite assembled by Guy Tristram Little and later donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Cartes de visite, introduced in 1854, were small albumen prints popular for collecting until the late 1870s, when larger cabinet cards became favored. The image reflects the Victorian practice of documenting actors in character for public and private albums.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Byrne & Co spent their working lives inside a London studio with a glass ceiling, shooting actors between matinee and evening curtain.
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