12 OF 25

Edmund Kean

12 of 25 portraits on display in Room 19 at the National Portrait Gallery

Edmund Kean

by James Northcote
oil on canvas, 1819
94 1/2 in. x 58 1/4 in. (2400 mm x 1482 mm)
Purchased, 1990
Primary Collection
NPG 6088

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Sitterback to top

Edmund Kean (1787-1833), Actor. Sitter associated with 25 portraits.

Artistback to top

James Northcote (1746-1831), Painter; pupil and biographer of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Artist associated with 103 portraits, Sitter associated with 23 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Kean is seen here in the title role of Howard Payne's Brutus (1818) which he performed to considerable success. Northcote has chosen to depict the final scene when Brutus speaks with his son Titus whom he has condemned to execution. It was painted for Kean's close friend S.W. Reynolds, who engraved and published a mezzotint of the picture.