Tinsel print depicting Madame Vestris as Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Tinsel Print
19th century (published)
19th century (published)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Madame Vestris played Oberon, the King of the Fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at Covent Garden Theatre which she leased with her husband Charles Mathews from 1839 until 1842. The production was innovatory for being the first in two hundred years to attempt to restore Shakespeare's text to the play, and Madam Vestris was widely praised for its splendid scenes and music. She was the first in London to use Mendelssohn's full score, along with some Beethoven for Oberon's incantation, and portions of Weber's Precosia for a ballet at Titania and Bottom's exit.
Vestris is shown in this print with the spear she carried in the role, wearing a crown and a knee-length gathered tunic that showed her shapely legs for which she was renowned
Tinsel prints were created from etched portraits of theatrical stars in popular roles they played on the London stage. They were hand-painted in watercolour and decorated with scraps of material and tinsel additions. They were popular during the first half of the 19th century and were considered an adult, rather than a child's hobby. By the 1830s it was possible to buy the tinsel, leather and feather ornaments to go with each image.
Vestris is shown in this print with the spear she carried in the role, wearing a crown and a knee-length gathered tunic that showed her shapely legs for which she was renowned
Tinsel prints were created from etched portraits of theatrical stars in popular roles they played on the London stage. They were hand-painted in watercolour and decorated with scraps of material and tinsel additions. They were popular during the first half of the 19th century and were considered an adult, rather than a child's hobby. By the 1830s it was possible to buy the tinsel, leather and feather ornaments to go with each image.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Tinsel print depicting Madame Vestris as Oberon in <i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i> (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Etching printed on paper with watercolour, silk and tinsel additions |
| Brief description | Tinsel print depicting Madame Vestris as Oberon, King of the Fairies, in A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, Covent Garden Theatre, 16th November 1840. Etching printed by A. Park, 47 Leonard St., Finsbury. |
| Physical description | Tinsel print depicting Madame Vestris as Oberon, King of the Fairies, in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Full length image of Vestris wearing a knee-length dress, heavily decorated with silver tinsel, the skirt with a line of tinsel butterflies, with a tinsel hunting horn at her waist. She wears a crown, the points decorated with stars, and holds a wand in her right hand; her left arm is extended and above her fingers hovers 'the little Western flower'. She stands on the seashore. Behind her, to right, is a grotto, in front of which winged fairies recline, and, to left, a crowned fairy rides in a shell. pulled by two swans, in front of a pillared structure, partly obscured by clouds. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Subject depicted | |
| Literary reference | Oberon |
| Summary | Madame Vestris played Oberon, the King of the Fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at Covent Garden Theatre which she leased with her husband Charles Mathews from 1839 until 1842. The production was innovatory for being the first in two hundred years to attempt to restore Shakespeare's text to the play, and Madam Vestris was widely praised for its splendid scenes and music. She was the first in London to use Mendelssohn's full score, along with some Beethoven for Oberon's incantation, and portions of Weber's Precosia for a ballet at Titania and Bottom's exit. Vestris is shown in this print with the spear she carried in the role, wearing a crown and a knee-length gathered tunic that showed her shapely legs for which she was renowned Tinsel prints were created from etched portraits of theatrical stars in popular roles they played on the London stage. They were hand-painted in watercolour and decorated with scraps of material and tinsel additions. They were popular during the first half of the 19th century and were considered an adult, rather than a child's hobby. By the 1830s it was possible to buy the tinsel, leather and feather ornaments to go with each image. |
| Associated objects |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.2034-1986 |
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| Record created | March 12, 2010 |
| Record URL |
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