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Brahegatan 10
BOX 5038
114 37 Stockholm
All auctions / Arts & Graphics / 19th C. English Tinsel Print | Mr. Yates as the Red Rover, Pirate
Anonymous (English, active XIX century). "Mr. Yates as the Red Rover" tinsel print, mid-19th century. Titled and numbered at bottom edge. A hand-colored theatrical portrait print, embellished with applied metal foil and fabric, showing the actor Frederick Yates in his signature role as the Red Rover. The pirate captain strides across a quayside in plumed cap, blue tailcoat and white kilt, pistol thrust toward a rocky harbor where a full-rigged ship rides at anchor, a curved blade swinging from his other hand. Foil "tinsel" catches the light on the sword, pistol, buttons and braid, while silk and cotton scraps supply the costume's softer passages. Such prints were issued plain or colored for the purchaser to decorate at home with pre-cut packets of foil, leather and feather ornaments, so no two finished examples are alike. Titled in letterpress along the lower margin with a plate number at right. Housed in a bird's-eye maple frame with a silvered slip. Frederick Yates (1795-1842) debuted in 1817, worked at Covent Garden, and in 1825 bought the Adelphi Theatre in partnership with Daniel Terry. The Adelphi under his management staged a string of Edward Fitzball melodramas, among them "The Red Rover" of 1828, adapted from James Fenimore Cooper's pirate novel. Yates played the title buccaneer in both the original run and the 1831 revival, and managed the house until his retirement in 1842. Tinsel prints grew from the toy-theatre trade and from the "patch portraits" French prisoners of war are said to have introduced to England in the late 18th century. By the 1830s stationers sold prints alongside matching packets of pre-cut foil, satin, velvet, leather and feathers, turning embellishment into a parlor pastime. Two print types diverged: small sheets for juvenile drama playsets, and larger individualized portraits of named stars, always full length and always caught mid-gesture, as here. Male roles dominated the market, their armor, sabers and pistols offering far more surface for foil than a fabric gown. The genre peaked between roughly 1810 and 1850, then faded as stage taste moved from heroic spectacle toward drawing-room comedy and social drama. Item # 205186
Estimate:$150
To the auctionView all items fromArtemis Fine ArtsorArts & Graphics
Estimate:
$150
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