Samuel Phelps
(1804-1878), ActorEarly Victorian Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter in 10 portraits
Samuel Phelps spent a number of years working in provincial theatre before making his first London appearance at the Haymarket Theatre in 1837, as Shylock in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. He spent six years at Covent Garden, the Haymarket and Drury Lane theatres. In 1844, he became co-lessee of the Sadler's Wells Theatre with Thomas Greenwood and Mary Amelia Warner. Phelps remained in this position for twenty years, raising the Sadler's Wells house to an important position. He directed thirty-four of Shakespeare's plays there and appeared himself in an extensive and varied repertory. He published an annotated edition of Shakespeare's plays in two volumes (1852-4).
by Harry Furniss
pen and ink, 1880s-1900s
NPG 3503
by Harry Furniss
pen and ink, 1880s-1900s
NPG 3596
by Alfred Bryan
sepia and grisaille wash
NPG 3015
by London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company
albumen carte-de-visite, 1860s
NPG Ax28542
by London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company
albumen carte-de-visite, 1860s
NPG x12729
by Unknown photographer
woodburytype, 1870s
NPG Ax7674
after Lock & Whitfield, and Elliott & Fry, and Fradelle & Marshall, and Pierre Petit, and Louis Bertin, and Unknown photographers
woodburytype, late 1870s
NPG x132955
Samuel Phelps ('The Last of the "Legitimates"')
published by Frederick Arnold, after Unknown artist
lithograph, published in the Hornet 20 December 1871
NPG D48267
Samuel Phelps as Cardinal Wolsey in Shakespeare's Henry VIII
by Charles Philip Slocombe, after Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson
etching, published 2 June 1879 (1878)
NPG D40182
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