Title
Elizabeth Whitlock
Technique
Oil on canvas
Subject
Character
Margaret : Earl of Warwick
Artist
Dimensions
Height: 36.5cm
Width: 28.3cm
height (frame): 46cm
width (frame): 37cm
Provenance
John Bell; Thomas Harris; Harris sale, 12 July 1819 (62); Charles Mathews
Other number
Mathews 173
RW/CKA 450
Exhibition history
1833 London, Queen's Bazaar, Oxford Street, "Mr Mathews's Gallery of Theatrical Portraits" (173)
Engraving history
Philippe Audinet for Bell's British Library 6 October 1792, line 11.1 x 7.95, pub. Bell's “British Theatre” (1797), vol 17
In Act V, scene 5, Margaret of Anjou has just told King Edward and Lady Elizabeth Grey, the Earl of Warwick's wife, that she has fatally stabbed the Earl of Warwick in revenge for the death of her child: " - From my breast I drew / A poignard forth and plunged it in his heart" (quoted on the engraving). She strikes a dramatic attitude, her right hand to her heart and her left arm extended. She has a spiked steel crown with yellow cap of liberty, and wears a long silver dress with vertical purple panels, each with four diagonal gold fringes, a long sleeveless cloak in purple velvet edged in ermine trailing away to the left, and a V-shaped ruff.
Francklin's tragedy was first performed at Drury Lane on 13 December 1766, with Mrs Yates as the original Margaret of Anjou. Elizabeth Whitlock never acted the role in London, but she did appear as Lady Elizabeth Grey at Drury Lane on 3 November 1784, when Mrs Siddons (her sister) played Margaret.
See also G0374.