Paintings: G0252

David Garrick, Susanna Cibber

Oil on canvas

Garrick, David
Cibber, Susanna Maria

Jaffier : Venice Preserv'd
Belvidera : Venice Preserv'd

Zoffany, Johan RA

c 1763

Height: 101.5cm
Width: 126cm
height (frame): 118cm
width (frame): 143cm

Charles Mathews

Mathews 17
RW/CKA 378

1833 London, Queen's Bazaar, Oxford Street, "Mr Mathews's Gallery of Theatrical Portraits" (17) 1951 London, Tate Gallery, "Pictures from the Garrick Club" (45) 1959 Lichfield, Public Library & Museum, "Johnson Anniversary Exhibition"

Lord Lambton oil on canvas 101.6 x 127 Exh: 1763 S. A.(137) Engr: James MacArdell 25 March 1764, mezzotint 43.2 x 52.7 (commissioned and owned by Garrick), also engravings by Stayner, published by C. Shepherd, and by Wilson, published by R. Sayer; Garrick sale, Christie's 23 June 1823, lot 612, bt. Lambton; Somerset Maugham Collection, Royal National Theatre, oil on canvas 101.5 x 127; Szepmuveszeti Museum (Budapest) 5880 oil on canvas 71 x 91

Patmore p. 263; Fitzgerald pp. 165-65; Griffiths, pp. 309-11; BD, 6: 96 (No 169); M&M, pp. 5-11

Belvidera is seen as she kneels on the line "Oh! Mercy!" She has made Jaffier reveal to the Senate a conspiracy against the state. Jaffier had expected the lives of the conspirators, including his friend Pierre, to be saved as a result of his honesty, but earlier in the scene they are condemned to death. Jaffier then threatens to kill Belvidera unless she secures a pardon from her father Priuli, one of the senators. In the text, Act IV, scene 2, is an interior scene: "The Senate-House, where appear sitting the Duke of Venice, Priuli, Antonio, and eight other Senators." Jaffier is alone when Belvidera enters, and they begin their passionate scene. The text calls for no change of venue from the senate house, which must have enough seats for eleven actors. [Probably not all the actors sat; 18th-century actors spent a lot of time standing on stage.] Either Garrick added a scene, perhaps closing the senate-house scene with an evening view of Venice, or Zoffany's setting is entirely imaginary. It seems unlikely that the street lamp would have been trundled on in the middle of a scene, although the moon (made of a conical tin containing a lamp and reflector, with the larger end covered with transparent coloured cloth), could have been flown in. More likely, Zoffany was merely providing a suitably Venetian setting for the stage action. The Salute is seen from across the Grand Canal, but the architecture behind the figures does not relate to any specific Venetian building (although there is a passing resemblance to the Dogana, which is on the same side of the Grand Canal as the Salute.) The bars across the window suggest that the building is supposed to be the prison to which the conspirators have just been taken. The building is architecturally quite dissimilar to the state prisons across the Bridge of Sighs from the Ducal Palace (and the "senate-house"). The broken column is a pictorial conceit to denote tragedy. John Graham's frontispiece to the 1791 Bell edition of the play, which describes itself as "Adapted for Theatrical Representation, as performed at the Theatres-Royal Drury Lane and Covent Garden, regulated from the prompt book," shows the same scene as G0252, but a few moments later when Jaffier has flung down his dagger. The setting is an interior with a table and chair visible on the left.
While on the Grand Tour, Garrick wrote from Venice on 12 June 1764 to George Colman, referring to “Venice Preserv'd”: "I have taken my Evening walks of Meditation on the Rialto, and have fancy'd myself waiting for my friend Pierre."
In “David Garrick, Director”, Kalman Burnim refers to a comment in the “Royal Female Magazine” (December 1760) on the costumes in the Drury Lane production of “Venice Preserv'd”. The writer complained that rather than suiting "the dress to the character, with the most minute exactness to complete the deception of the scene," the actors chose the richest suit of clothes available in the wardrobe, without considering the nature of their roles. It seems unlikely that Garrick and Mrs Cibber joined in this free-for-all, although their clothes are very splendid. Jaffier is dressed in black, with a white silk waistcoat elaborately embroidered in gold, with foliage and flowers in green and pink. Belvidera is also in black, with a white gauze stole round her shoulders.
Otway's tragedy was probably first performed at Dorset Garden Theatre on 9 February 1682 with Thomas Betterton as Jaffier and Elizabeth Barry as Belvidera. Garrick first acted Jaffier at Drury Lane on 8 February 1748 (having played the other main protagonist, Pierre, since his first season at Goodman's Fields in 1742); Mrs Cibber was his Belvidera. The play was equally popular at both Drury Lane and Covent Garden.
The Drury Lane performances closest to Zoffany's painting were given on 20 October and 16 November 1762 and 26 March 1763, when Garrick and Mrs Cibber played their familiar roles.