Hamlet. Portrait of Mr H. Irving
This black and white print by Frederick L. Barnard shows Henry Irving as Hamlet. It is captioned ‘Hamlet. Portrait of Mr H. Irving, drawn by F Barnard… Two Hundred Performances.’ His first performance as Hamlet in 1874 ran for more than 200 nights. This level of success was unheard of for a Shakespeare play and it established Henry Irving as the foremost actor of the day.
Frederick Barnard was an English illustrator, caricaturist and genre painter. He is noted for his work on the novels of Charles Dickens between 1871 and 1879. He also illustrated for Punch, The Illustrated London News and Harper’s Weekly. He also is the artist of the Sir Henry Irving in Various Roles drawing in the Irving Room.
