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'Chaste as a picture by Wilkie': the relationship between comic performance and genre painting in early nineteenth-century British theatre
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Davis, Jim (2008) 'Chaste as a picture by Wilkie': the relationship between comic performance and genre painting in early nineteenth-century British theatre. Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, Vol.35 (No.1). pp. 3-16. doi:10.7227/NCTF.35.1.3 ISSN 1748-3727.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7227/NCTF.35.1.3
Abstract
This essay develops a discussion of early nineteenth century genre painter David Wilkie's association with the stage, discussed under several categories. We know from his diaries that Wilkie was an enthusiastic theatergoer and that he enjoyed watching comic performers such as John Liston, Charles Mathews and Joseph Grimaldi. We also know that he numbered comic actors among his friends. These theatrical friends were to provide inspiration and material for some of Wilkie's best-known paintings, including ‘The Opening of a Will.’ It was John Liston who posed for one of the figures in Wilkie's The Ale House Door, subsequently retitled The Village Festival. In the 1830s Wilkie wrote to Charles Mathews, expressing his admiration for his ‘beautiful representations’ in one of his popular At Homes. And, of course, two of Wilkie's paintings, The Rent Day and Distraining for Rent, were realized in Douglas Jerrold's play The Rent Day. Critical discussions of Wilkie often indicate that his approach to his subject-matter was inherently theatrical, and the theatre took much from Wilkie's paintings. ‘Chaste as a picture by Wilkie’ is a phrase that not only defines certain tendencies in comic acting in the early nineteenth century, but values that would become more embedded as the century progressed. Implicit in Wilkie's paintings was an altogether gentler and safer world and the equally chaste drama and style of acting that might represent this would entail.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > Theatre, Performance and Cultural Policy Studies | ||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film | ||||
| Publisher: | Manchester University Press | ||||
| ISSN: | 1748-3727 | ||||
| Official Date: | June 2008 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | Vol.35 | ||||
| Number: | No.1 | ||||
| Page Range: | pp. 3-16 | ||||
| DOI: | 10.7227/NCTF.35.1.3 | ||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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