Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Hamlet, 1892
This miniature painting of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree by Ethel Webling is based on a famous photograph of Tree as Hamlet taken by W. and D. Downey and published in 1892. Beerbohm Tree gave his first Hamlet in Manchester on 9 September 1891. His first London Hamlet was performed at the Haymarket on 21 January 1892 and was a great success. Beerhohm Tree began performing in the 1870s and by 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Threatre in the West End.
Ethel Webling was born in London and was one of six daughters. Four of her sisters were actors and the other was an author and playwright. She was connected to the world of Sharkespearean theatre through her sisters’ work, and in 1884, she created ninety sketches of Henry Irving’s production of Twelfth Night at the Lyceum Theatre in a copy of the play. In 1898, she created a hand-illustrated book documenting Herbert Beerbohm Tree’s production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar at Her Majesty’s Theatre.
