Artwork
Guy Little Theatrical Photograph
Guy Little Theatrical Photograph is a photographic photography by the Romanticist artist Unknown. It dates from 1842 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Overview
The image captures Ellen Kean and Charles Kean in the roles of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth during a production at the Haymarket Theatre in 1842. It is a photographic print made from a glass negative, typical of mid‑nineteenth‑century portraiture, and was originally mounted on a small card format used for personal exchange.
Subject & Meaning
The portrait documents a specific staging of Shakespeare’s tragedy, presenting the lead actors in full costume. By preserving their theatrical personas, the photograph offers a visual record of Victorian stage aesthetics and the interpretive choices of the Keans, who were prominent figures in London theatre at the time.
Technique & Style
Created as an albumen print, the photograph was produced by coating paper with egg white and silver nitrate, then exposing it to light through a glass plate negative. The resulting image bears the fine tonal range and crisp detail characteristic of the carte de visite format, a popular medium for portrait distribution in the 1860s.
History & Provenance
The card was part of a larger assemblage of cartes de visite and later cabinet cards collected by Guy Tristram Little, a solicitor and avid collector of ephemera. After Little’s death in 1953, he bequeathed the set to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where it now resides within the Theatre Collections.
Context
During the Victorian era, photography became a fashionable means for actors to disseminate their likenesses to audiences. Carte de visite cards, roughly the size of visiting cards, were exchanged socially and often compiled in albums, reflecting both personal and commercial interests in theatrical celebrity.
Artist & collection
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