Death Mask of Henry Irving (1905)
Sir Henry Irving was one of the most renowned actors of the Victorian stage and he was the first actor to be knighted, receiving this honour in 1895. He died on 13th October 1905 of a stroke, shortly after coming off stage from a performance of Becket at the Theatre Royal, Bradford. He was 67 at the time of his untimely death.
Death masks of famous people had been made since the Medieval period, but there was a resurgence in their popularity during the Victorian era where science and spirituality existed very comfortably, side by side
Sir George Alexander, who was employed by Irving as an actor-manager, commissioned the sculptor Sir George James Frampton to make the death mask. It is thought that the original death mask, from which all other copies have been made, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection. Other death masks of Irving can be found at the Museum of Stratford on Avon and at Smallhythe Place in Kent.
