Early Georgian Portraits Catalogue: Macklin

Charles Macklin (1699?-1797)

Actor-manager and dramatist; born in Ireland, first appeared at Lincoln's Inn Theatre, 1725, in the Oedipus by Dryden and Lee, and subsequently in leading roles at Drury Lane, Covent Garden and in Dublin; his last performance, 1789, was as Shylock, his most famous characterisation; his own works include Man of the World, a comedy, and The Suspicious Husband Criticised, a satire on the play by Dr Hoadly (q.v.); his daughter Maria, an actress of talent (d.1781), appeared in many of his productions.

1319 By John Opie? c.1792
Oil on canvas, 35 ¾ x 27 ¾ in. (908 x 705 mm); dark grey eyes, thick eyebrows, lips slightly parted, the lower protruding, short white wig with single row of curls, aged appearance; white cravat, dark grey coat; in his left hand a blank paper, at his elbow a table with green cloth, inkpot and quill; plain brown background; lit from right.

Although poor quality precludes definite attribution, NPG 1319 is possibly a damaged original by John Opie. The portrait is said to have been painted for 'a clergyman named Clarke', [1] presumably the Rev. Edward Daniel Clarke, mineralogist, traveller and antiquary (1769-1822) to whom Macklin remarked he ought to have been paid for lending his features. [2] A similar head by Opie, with Charles Mathews by 1824 [3] and exhibited by him, 1833, [4] was presented to the Garrick Club (16) with the rest of the Mathews collection, 1835.

The sitter's birth date has long been a subject of contention but from the inscription 97 years on his coffin plate, it is now generally accepted as c.1699. [5]

Condition: bituminous in the darks; much repainted; cleaned, repaired and varnished, 1902.

Collections: bought, 1902, from James McCulloch, source unknown; equated by Earland with the portrait sold for 'a gentleman named Clarke', Christie's, March 1856, bought by Mr Hermann for John Green of Covent Garden; sold as 'at 107 years of age', Green's sale, Christie's, 22 July 1871, lot 97. [6]

Engraved: the type engraved in his 93rd Year by Jean Condé, frontispiece to Bell's edition of the sitter's works, 1792.

Exhibited: 'John Opie', Plymouth, 1957 (52); 'John Opie', 1962-63 (49); 'The History of the Theatre in Exeter', University of Exeter, 1967.

Literature: [L.G. Patmore], British Galleries of Art, 1824; Catalogue Raisonnee of Mr. Mathew's Gallery of Historical Portraits, 1833; L. Binyon, Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists . . . in the British Museum, 1898-1907; A. Earland, John Opie and His Circle, 1911; R. Mander and J. Mitchenson, The Artist and the Theatre [catalogue of the Somerset Maugham collection] 1955.

Iconography

All known portraits represent the sitter late in life and usually in character. By 1764 Macklin had lost his teeth, and by about 1788, his memory. The scene by Zoffany showing the sitter as Shylock, his most famous role, is possibly the best likeness. Traditionally connected with the benefit performance of May 1775 given before Lord Mansfield, [7] shown extreme left, it was presented to the Tate Gallery, 1951, from the Lansdowne collection. A single figure as Shylock attributed to Zoffany, formerly in the collection of W. Somerset Maugham, now belongs to the National Theatre collection. [8] A portrait by Samuel de Wilde, engraved by R. Cromek for Bell's British Theatre, 1795 (O'D 3), depicts Macklin as McSycophant in his own play Man of the World, first produced in 1781. Versions are in the Garrick Club and the National Gallery of Ireland. Other roles recorded by de Wilde include 'Sir Gilbert Wrangle' in Cibber's The Refusal now known only through the engraving by Thornthwaite of 1792 (O'D 4). The portrait by Opie (NPG 1319 above) is of about this period. A medallion(?) by John Charles Lochée, owned by Macklin, and probably produced for Wedgwood, was engraved by J. Corner for the European Magazine, 1787. Drawings by James Roberts, engraved by Cooke, 1779 (O'D 18), and by Johann Heinrich Ramberg, engraved by T. Cook, 1785 (O'D 17) are in the British Museum, [9] as are a number of small plates published by J. Bell and others, listed in O'Donoghue and the Harvard Theatre Collection catalogue. [10] The last important portrait is probably the oil by Sir W. Beechey, now known by W. Ridley's small plate in the Monthly Mirror of 1796.

Notes

1. Earland, pp.53-54.
2. Earland, pp.53-54.
3. Patmore, pp.271-72; Adams, p.6.
4. Catalogue Raisonnee . . ., p.8.
5. Adams, p.234.
6. Earland, p.292; Christie's sale catalogue.
7. Cp the scene by J. Boyne from The Merchant of Venice, engraving by W. Nutter, 1790 (O'D 2).
8. Mander and Mitchenson, p.55, reproduced p.54.
9. Binyon, III, pp.192, 235.
10. Compiled by L.A. Hall, 1930-34.