Photographs: PH1790

Title

Mr Beerbohm Tree

Subject

Tree, Herbert Beerbohm (Sir)

Character

Hamlet : Hamlet

Artist

W.& D. DowneyCassell & Company Ltd (London, England)

Date

1892

Dimensions

height (mount): 24.1cm
width (mount): 18.3cm
height: 13.9cm
width: 9.3cm

Inscription/signature

Printed recto: "W. & D. DOWNEY, / MR. BEERBOHM TREE. / 57 & 61, Ebury Street, London."

Provenance

Presented by Mr Michael Gaunt, October 2023.

Other number

E0147

Photograph of the actor and theatre manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Hamlet by W.& D. Downey and published by Cassell & Company Ltd, 1892. Beerbohm Tree starred as Hamlet in Shakespeare's play alongside his wife who played Ophelia, at the Haymarket Theatre in 1892. This photograph appears in 'The Cabinet Portrait Gallery' series of celebrity portraits and biographies published in the 1890s, two pages of which came with the photograph and contains a biography about him. He is depicted three-quarter length, standing to the right, wearing a long black coat with black fur trim and embroidered detailing, a white shirt, black tights and a large medallion on his chest. He holds a dagger and a black hat in his hands.