costume design
Costume Design
1860 (designed)
1860 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This is one of a set of seven designs by Richard Wynn Keene or Dykwynkyn (1809-1887), for an assortment of comic Knights in the first Christmas pantomime ever staged at Her Majesty's Theatre. Harlequin and Tom Thumb!, or, Merlin The Magician and the Good Fairies of the Court of King Arthur, which opened on Christmas Eve 1860, was by all accounts a splendid pantomime, with brilliant set designs supervised by the well-known scene designer William Beverley, and remarkable costumes and the pantomime 'big heads' designed by the artist, sculptor, mask and property maker and costume designer known as Dykwynkyn. The heads traditionally featured in the opening of pantomimes at this date, and their design was a speciality of Dykwynkyn's.
The Knights in Tom Thumb appeared in 'The Banqueting Hall in the Palace of King Arthur', the scene in the Harlequinade part of the pantomime in which Tom Thumb lived in King Arthur's Court. 'A Long Knight' is noted on the playbill, although the design itself is not inscribed with his name
The Knights in Tom Thumb appeared in 'The Banqueting Hall in the Palace of King Arthur', the scene in the Harlequinade part of the pantomime in which Tom Thumb lived in King Arthur's Court. 'A Long Knight' is noted on the playbill, although the design itself is not inscribed with his name
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | costume design (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Pencil and watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Costume design for A Long Knight, one of several Knight designs for the pantomime Harlequin and Tom Thumb! or, Merlin The Magician, & the Good Fairies of the Court of King Arthur, Her Majesty's Theatre, 24 December 1860. Pencil and watercolour by 'Dykwynkyn' - Richard Wynn Keene (1809-1887) |
| Physical description | Pencil and watercolour costume design on two sheets of cream paper for A Long Knight, partly finished, depicting a standing helmeted thin Knight wearing a red tabard and a white sash with blue wavy lines, his face drawn with an expression of utter dismay, balancing a pikestaff through his right arm and wearing a shield on the left side of his body bearing the words 'LONG LIVE YE DUKE'. The sheets of cream paper have been cut and pasted as one onto a buff-coloured paper support. There is a slight pencil design on the lower sheet of cream paper, with some pencilled inscriptions on both sheets. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'Pink' 'Gold' 'Blue' 'White & Blue' 'Red' 'for back much longer' 'Duke' (In pencil around the image.) |
| Credit line | Given by Mrs. W.W. Smith |
| Object history | Given to the donor in the 1920s by her husband's aunt, a friend of Florence Glossop Harris, daughter of Sir Augustus Harrris and wife of Frank Cellier. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | This is one of a set of seven designs by Richard Wynn Keene or Dykwynkyn (1809-1887), for an assortment of comic Knights in the first Christmas pantomime ever staged at Her Majesty's Theatre. Harlequin and Tom Thumb!, or, Merlin The Magician and the Good Fairies of the Court of King Arthur, which opened on Christmas Eve 1860, was by all accounts a splendid pantomime, with brilliant set designs supervised by the well-known scene designer William Beverley, and remarkable costumes and the pantomime 'big heads' designed by the artist, sculptor, mask and property maker and costume designer known as Dykwynkyn. The heads traditionally featured in the opening of pantomimes at this date, and their design was a speciality of Dykwynkyn's. The Knights in Tom Thumb appeared in 'The Banqueting Hall in the Palace of King Arthur', the scene in the Harlequinade part of the pantomime in which Tom Thumb lived in King Arthur's Court. 'A Long Knight' is noted on the playbill, although the design itself is not inscribed with his name |
| Associated objects |
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| Other number | S.10-2008 - Cancelled number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.733-1987 |
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| Record created | February 12, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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