Lithograph by Arbit Blatas of Regina Resnik as Mistress Quickly in Verdi's opera, Falstaff, ca. 1968.

Lithuania born artist Arbit Blatas (1908–1999) was married to American mezzo-soprano Regina Resnik (1922-2013), shown here in the role of Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The production, directed and designed by Franco Zeffirelli, opened on 10 May 1961. In an interpretation which surprised reviewers Mistress Quickly was promoted up the social scale: ‘who is this, sweeping in, last and grandest, like a be-ruffed Lady Bracknell, with parasol and lorgnettes at the ready?’ asked Desmond Shawe-Taylor (Sunday Times, 14 May 1961). ‘Can it be our old friend Mrs. Quickly, servant to Dr. Caius and Eastcheap hostess?’ Despite his doubts, he found the character ‘capitally sung and played’, and other critics agreed.

The production proved popular with audiences and was revived throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Resnik sang Mistress Quickly in the revivals in 1963 and again in 1968, 1970 and 1971, by which time her character had become ’more plebeian but no less appreciative of Verdi’s melody’ (William Mann, The Times, 30 May 1968). It became one of the four roles with which she was most closely associated; the others, which illustrate her range, being Carmen, Klytemnestra in Elektra and the Countess in The Queen of Spades.

Blatas painting Geraint Evans in the role of Falstaff in 1968 and it is likely that his original drawing of Regina Resnik was made at around the same time, though the lithograph may have been produced later.