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G0101
Paintings: G0101
Title
Mrs Patrick Campbell
Technique
Oil on canvas
Subject
Character
Rita Allmers : Little Eyolf
Artist
Date
1896
Dimensions
Height (canvas): 61cm
width (canvas): 40.6cm
height (frame): 74cm
width (frame): 62cm
width (canvas): 40.6cm
height (frame): 74cm
width (frame): 62cm
Inscription/signature
"J.S. Eland / 96" (brown paint b. r.)
Provenance
Unknown
Other number
GCL 690
Exhibition history
1992 London, National Portrait Gallery "In Close Up: George Bernard Shaw"
Mrs Patrick Campbell's most enterprising venture of 1896 was her introduction to Ibsen with the unlikely part of the Ratwife in “Little Eyolf”, with a matinee performance at the Avenue Theatre on 23 November. The presence of Mrs Campbell made the production financially successful, and commercial managements began to take an interest. Mrs Campbell immediately ousted Janet Achurch from the much more important role of Rita Allmers by offering her services for a reduced fee. The production ran for 25 performances, a long run for an Ibsen play, although George Bernard Shaw objected to Mrs Campbell turning Ibsen into "a full-blown fashionable theatrical spectacle."
A wood-engraving of Janet Achurch in the part shows her wearing a dress identical to that in Eland's portrait of Mrs Campbell, with leg-of-mutton sleeves and a similar collar. Mrs Campbell's dress is yellow, and her hair is tied back in a chignon.
A wood-engraving of Janet Achurch in the part shows her wearing a dress identical to that in Eland's portrait of Mrs Campbell, with leg-of-mutton sleeves and a similar collar. Mrs Campbell's dress is yellow, and her hair is tied back in a chignon.
