Not currently on display at the V&A

'The Merry Duchess' at the Royalty Theatre

Print
1883 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News was founded in 1874 and included theatre crtiticism and news items as well as serialised fiction. It shared its address and many of its illustrators and engravers with The Illustrated London News. At a time before photograhy was possible within theatres, its illustrations made by artists sent to sketch the latest productions for the magazine provide an invaluable record of a host of late 19th century theatre productions.

The image shows the actress manager Kate Santley, the German-born actress Evangeline Estelle Gazina (1837-1923) whose parents emigrated from Germany to Charleston, South Carolina, where she was educated. She came to England in 1861 at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 as a practising musician, but soon afterwards went on the stage as Eva Stella, and later Kate Santley. She became the manager of London's Royalty Theatre in 1877, a theatre with which she was associated for many years, especially for productions of comic opera including those by Gilbert and Sullivan and Offenbach.




Object details

Categories
Object type
Title'The Merry Duchess' at the Royalty Theatre (published title)
Materials and techniques
Printing ink reproducing wood engraving
Brief description
Illustration by Arthur Frederics of characters and scenes from the comic opera The Merry Duchess by George R. Sims with music by Frederic Clay, starring Kate Santley (1837-1923) as Rowena, Royalty Theatre, 23 April 1883. Wood engraving by Joseph Swain reproduced in The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 5 May 1883.
Physical description
Composite illustration of characters and scenes from Act II of the comic opera The Merry Duchess showing the scene at the races framed by a horseshoe shape illustrated with the faces of the cast members Mr. F. Kaye, Mr. Furneaux Cook, Mr. W. Gregory, Mr. H. Ashley, Miss Kate Santley, Miss K. Munroe and Miss Lucy Weston.
Dimensions
  • Height: 36.4cm
  • Width: 24.0cm
  • Height: 36.4cm
  • Total including mount width: 26.7cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Kate Santley' (Printed below portrait. )
Credit line
Gabrielle Enthoven Collection
Subjects depicted
Summary
The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News was founded in 1874 and included theatre crtiticism and news items as well as serialised fiction. It shared its address and many of its illustrators and engravers with The Illustrated London News. At a time before photograhy was possible within theatres, its illustrations made by artists sent to sketch the latest productions for the magazine provide an invaluable record of a host of late 19th century theatre productions.

The image shows the actress manager Kate Santley, the German-born actress Evangeline Estelle Gazina (1837-1923) whose parents emigrated from Germany to Charleston, South Carolina, where she was educated. She came to England in 1861 at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 as a practising musician, but soon afterwards went on the stage as Eva Stella, and later Kate Santley. She became the manager of London's Royalty Theatre in 1877, a theatre with which she was associated for many years, especially for productions of comic opera including those by Gilbert and Sullivan and Offenbach.


Associated objects
Collection
Accession number
S.760-2014

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Record createdDecember 12, 2014
Record URL
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