Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson)
(1753-1821), Actress and writerRegency Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter in 8 portraits
Elizabeth Inchbald was a novelist, playwright, and actress whose successful prose romances, A Simple Story (1791) and Nature and Art (1796), are early examples of romantic fiction. At the age of eighteen she ran away to London to seek her fortune on the stage, married Joseph Inchbald, an actor, and played the provincial theatres with him. Inchbald continued to act after his death in 1779 and also began to adapt plays and write original farces and comedies such as I'll Tell You What (1785).
Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson)
by George Dance
pencil, 1794
NPG 1144
Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson)
by Anthony Walker, and by Collings, published by Thomas Bellamy, after Thomas Cook
line engraving, published 1 September 1787
NPG D14206
Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson)
by Wooding, published by John Sewell, after John Russell
line engraving, published 1788
NPG D14985
Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson)
by Wooding, published by John Sewell, after John Russell
hand-coloured line engraving, published 1788
NPG D16734
Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson)
by Thomas Scott Seed, after Unknown artist
stipple engraving, published 1794
NPG D16738
Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson)
by William Ridley, published by Vernor & Hood
hand-coloured stipple engraving, published 31 December 1798
NPG D16737
Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson)
by Samuel Freeman, published by William Smith, after Sir Thomas Lawrence
hand-coloured stipple engraving, published 1807
NPG D16735
Elizabeth Inchbald (née Simpson)
after Samuel Drummond
hand-coloured stipple engraving, published 1821?
NPG D16736
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