Miniatures: G0816

Title

Anna Maria Tree

Technique

Watercolour

Subject

Tree, Anna Maria

Character

Viola : Twelfth Night

Artist

Sharpe, Louisa

Dimensions

Height: 13.4cm
Width: 10.5cm

Other materials

Watercolour on ivory

Provenance

Unknown, acquired before 1909

Other number

RW 427A ? (unknown sitter by Richard Cosway)
CKA 427A

Exhibition history

1821 London, R. A. (868) 2001-02 London, Courtauld Gallery "'Art on the Line' - the Royal Academy Exhibitions at Somerset House 1780-1836"

Engraving history

William Holl for “Dramatical and Musical Magazine” (April 1823) pub. Beale and T. Holt, stipple (vignette, cut at elbows and either side of shoulders)

Viola looks after the departing Malvolio, who has given her the ring that Olivia pretends Viola left behind (Act II, scene 2). She holds the ring gingerly in her yellow-gloved left hand, and has a black hat with a feather round the brim in her right. Her male costume consists of a vaguely military brown-orange tunic with black and white piping, an orange-brown belt with a gold buckle, and a dagger with a gold hilt. The costume is similar to, and a foretaste of, principal boy costumes of the later 19th century.
“Twelfth Night” was revived at Covent Garden on 8 November 1820, with Ann Maria Tree as Viola, and played for 17 nights during the season.