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Emile Littler Archive

Costume Design
1921 (drawn)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Costume design by Attilio Comelli for a Russian Peasant, in Act I of a production of Sybil at Daly's Theatre, in 1921.

Sybil, or Szibill in the original Hungarian is an operetta with music by Victor Jacobi. The story follows Sybil, a singer from Paris, who arrives in Russia and meets an officer, Petrov who falls in love with her. There follows a case of mistaken identity in which Sybil is thought to be the wife of the Grand Duke. The Grand Duke goes along with this deception and his wife pretends to be Sybil. The Grand Duchess then becomes attracted to Petrov and the Grand Duke tries to attack him. After much confusion everyone's true identity is revealed and the play ends happily.

Comelli (1858-1925) was the house designer of the Royal Opera House from the late 1880s to the early 1920s. During this period he also worked for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and also designed costumes from a number of Gilbert&Sullivan productions.

This production of the play opened at Daly's Theatre, London on 19th February 1921.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleEmile Littler Archive (named collection)
Materials and techniques
Pen and ink and watercolour
Brief description
Costume design by Attilio Comelli for a Russian peasant in Act I of a production of Sybil at Daly's Theatre, 1921. Emile Littler Archive.
Physical description
Costume design for a member of the chorus in a production of Sybil at Daly's Theatre. It shows a full length image of a woman in a costume loosely inspired by Russian 'peasant dress'. She is dressed in a dark green, sleeveless, jacket and dark green skirt with a white blouse. The sleeves of this white blouse are intricately decorated with bands of delicate red and black zigzag and diamond motifs. The sleeveless jacket fits loosely and flares out at the hem. It has bands of lighter, leaf green at the centre front, arm holes and top. Over her skirt she wears a narrow apron with a white and black ground. The lower, white section of the apron is decorated with similar motifs to the sleeves of her shirt. She also wears a stiff, round cap of dark green decorated with a row of thin red circles and held in place by a leaf green headscarf which is tied under her chin and patterned with dark green spots. The design is signed Comelli and dated 1921.

The borders of design are bound in a transparent gauze which is pinned in place. A hand drawn chart detailing the measurements of the actress for whom the costume was intended is pinned to the rear.
Dimensions
  • Height: 36.2cm
  • Width: 26.7cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • Comelli 1921 (Handwritten annotation in ink to the left of the design)
  • 13 (Handwritten annotation in blue crayon at the top right of the design)
  • Russian Peasant/act I (Handwritten annotation in pencil on the gauze at the front of the design)
  • Maurice, 28, 37, 41, 42, 24. (Handwritten annotation in black ink on the chart on the rear of the design)
  • Transliteration
Credit line
Gift of the Estate of Emile Littler
Literary referenceSybil
Summary
Costume design by Attilio Comelli for a Russian Peasant, in Act I of a production of Sybil at Daly's Theatre, in 1921.

Sybil, or Szibill in the original Hungarian is an operetta with music by Victor Jacobi. The story follows Sybil, a singer from Paris, who arrives in Russia and meets an officer, Petrov who falls in love with her. There follows a case of mistaken identity in which Sybil is thought to be the wife of the Grand Duke. The Grand Duke goes along with this deception and his wife pretends to be Sybil. The Grand Duchess then becomes attracted to Petrov and the Grand Duke tries to attack him. After much confusion everyone's true identity is revealed and the play ends happily.

Comelli (1858-1925) was the house designer of the Royal Opera House from the late 1880s to the early 1920s. During this period he also worked for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and also designed costumes from a number of Gilbert&Sullivan productions.

This production of the play opened at Daly's Theatre, London on 19th February 1921.
Associated object
THM/144 (Series)
Other number
THM/144 - Archive number
Collection
Accession number
S.2824-2010

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Record createdNovember 5, 2010
Record URL
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