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PH1694
Photographs: PH1694
Title
Henry Irving
Subject
Character
Shylock : The Merchant of Venice
Dimensions
height: 23cm
width: 13.7cm
width: 13.7cm
Other materials
Photograph
Inscription/signature
""How like a fawning / publican he looks"! / Shylock / Henry Irving: 1879:" (handwritten on front)
Provenance
Bequeathed to the Garrick club by Frances Hughes, October 2022.
Other number
E0134
Photograph of Sir Henry Irving as Shylock from The Merchant of Venice. Irving is shown in a long black costume and overcoat, wearing a pillbox hat, holding a cane in his right hand and looking to his left. Photograph appears to be linked to the engraving P1200 and according to the National Portrait Gallery website, was taken by Edward Lyddell Sawyer. Irving writes by hand on front: "How like a fawning publican he looks"! Henry Irving: 1879. Quote is from Act 1, Scene 3.
Irving first produced The Merchant of Venice in 1879, inspired by a Mediterranean cruise during which he visited Venice and North Africa. His portrayal of Shylock was sympathetic and intellectual, unlike the variously comic or villainous ones of preceding eras. The initial production ran for 250 performances, It was the play that Irving presented in 1889 when first summoned to perform for Queen Victoria and when he took his final curtain at the Lyceum on the 19 July 1902. It remained in Irving’s repertory of plays until his death in 1905.
Irving first produced The Merchant of Venice in 1879, inspired by a Mediterranean cruise during which he visited Venice and North Africa. His portrayal of Shylock was sympathetic and intellectual, unlike the variously comic or villainous ones of preceding eras. The initial production ran for 250 performances, It was the play that Irving presented in 1889 when first summoned to perform for Queen Victoria and when he took his final curtain at the Lyceum on the 19 July 1902. It remained in Irving’s repertory of plays until his death in 1905.
