Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue

Paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints
Photographs
Footnotes

Bellwood usually performed in contemporary dress so the distinction between images in ‘private character’ and ‘stage character’ is not so clear as with other sitters.

Paintings, drawings, sculptures and printsback to top

publ. 1884
Drawing by Alfred Concanen, whole-length standing, facing, with hands on hips, in red dress, with shawl and feathered hat; untraced.
Chromolithograph publ. Stannard & Son, repr. on cover of sheet music for Bellwood’s best-known song, ‘What cheer ’Ria’, publ. 1884; copies colls V&A, London, S.2771-1986; Mander & Mitchenson Coll., U. of Bristol (no further details); and Lebrecht Photo L., 00197461. Repr. Mander & Mitchenson 1974, fig.42.
The song was first heard in the West End Mar. 1885 when performed in the Gaiety Theatre’s burlesque Mazeppa. [1]

publ. 1885
Drawing by unidentified artist after unknown photograph, bust, to right, head full-face, wearing plain buttoned bodice, in framed oval; untraced.
Lithograph by Thomas Packer, publ. on cover of sheet music entitled ‘He’s going to marry Mary Ann’, copyrighted 1885; copies colls V&A, London, S.331-2012; and Harvard College L. Theatre Coll. (no further details). Ref. Hall 1930–34, vol.1, p.91; repr. Baker 2005, p.173 (bust detail).

1888
Drawings by Walter Sickert relating to painting Little Dot Hetherington at the Bedford Music Hall (see below, ‘c.1888–9’), two known sketches: [2]
(a) pencil sketch, inscr. and dated 21 June 1888, three-quarter-length, facing, hands clasped, wearing pointed hat and fitted buttoned dress, pasted onto sheet of ten music hall studies; Walker AG, Liverpool, 5303. Ref. Bromberg 2000, p.95; and Baron 2006 (48.3, ill.).
(b) pencil, pen and ink squared compositional study, three-quarter-length standing, half-visible behind wings; Yale U. AG, New Haven, CT (no further details). Ref. Baron 2006 (48.2, ill.).

c.1888
Etchings by Walter Sickert, possibly relating to painting Little Dot Hetherington at the Bedford Music Hall (see below, ‘c.1888–9’), wearing pointed hat and fitted buttoned dress, two plates:
(a) four figure studies; BM, London, 1949,0411.456. Ref. Bromberg 2000 (107, ill.); and Baron 2006, p.179.
(b) three figure studies; BM, London, 1949,0411.455. Ref. Bromberg 2000 (108, ill.); and Baron 2006, p.179.
Sketched from life on copper.

c.1888–9
Oil on canvas by Walter Sickert, Little Dot Hetherington at the Bedford Music Hall, schematic whole-length, facing, half visible behind wings at right of stage, wearing fitted buttoned dress and pointed hat, right arm raised; priv. coll., Monte Carlo. Ref. Baron 2006 (48, ill.).

c.1880s
Pen and ink drawing by unidentified artist; see NPG 3968.

Caricature drawing by Alfred Bryan, half-length standing, behind bar, right hand on hip, head three-quarters to right; untraced. Repr. as wood engr., unidentified publ., captioned ‘Miss Bessie Bellwood / The barmaid who says she only gives people what they want. / She has been known to give a Middlesex magistrate a little more than he wants’; and Disher 1974, facing p.23.

publ. 1892
Watercolour drawing by Dudley Hardy, three-quarter-length standing, on stage, right arm extended, performing at Evans’s Music Hall; untraced. Repr. Idler, Apr. 1892, p.251.

Photographsback to top

1889
Photograph by unidentified photographer, head-and-shoulders, full-face, wearing pince-nez; repr. Busby 1976, p.24 (no credits).

publ. 1894
Photograph by unidentified photographer, bust, looking three-quarters to left, light-coloured hair piled into bun; repr. on cover of sheet music for ‘Uncle Sam’, a ‘national song’, publ. F.W. Helmick, New York, and Helmick & Nichols, Bradford, 1894; Music Division, New York PL, 1166839.

Photograph by unidentified photographer, whole-length, head turned to left, wearing white top and dark skirt with sash; repr. on cover of sheet music for ‘Fill your home with sunshine’, publ. F.W. Helmick, New York, and Helmick & Nichols, Bradford, 1894; Music Division, New York PL, 1166564.

1894–6
Photograph by Hana Studios Ltd, whole-length standing, facing, head tilted to right, wearing striped dress and fur trimmed cape; V&A, London, S.146:596-2007 (modern rephotograph). [3] Repr. Black & White, 3 Oct. 1896, p.423 (obits); and Felstead 1946, facing p.68. [4]
The best-known image of Bellwood.

publ. 1896
Photographs by Hana, Strand, [5] whole-length; repr. Sketch, 30 Sept. 1896, p.393, under heading ‘The late Bessie Bellwood in some of her characters’, four known poses:
(a) in white flounced dress, captioned ‘In “Seraphina Spotem the detectivist”’.
(b) in apron and dark shawl, captioned ‘In “Old woman & the new”’.
(c) in coachman’s clothes and top hat, captioned ‘In “The Pro’s driver”’.
(d) in black evening dress, captioned ‘In “Black and white”’.
See MEPL, London, 11052262.

Photograph by unidentified photographer, bust, head turned to left, wearing feathered hat and furs; repr. on celluloid button badge manufactured Whitehead & Hoag Co. Badges & Buttons, Newark, NJ; sample button Button M., Chicago, MU0043.

undated
Photograph by unidentified photographer, half-length, three-quarters to right, in low-cut dress, looking down; V&A, London, S.146:599-2007 (modern rephotograph).

Footnotesback to top

1) ‘Miss Bessie Bellwood [has] condescended to “give permission” to the aristocratic Gaiety to sing her democratic ditty, “What cheer, ’Ria” … The Strand and Shadwell are in unity over this seductive screech. It was a great song at the music halls. Miss Bessie Bellwood, the creatress [sic] of this intoxicating tune, dressed the famous ’Ria in character. She was a “downcast” maiden flashily attired, such as may be seen occupying a seat in a tax-cart on Sunday destined for Epping. The object of the song was that delight of the lower orders – noise’ (ILN, 21 Mar. 1885, p.297).
2) A visitor to Sickert’s studio in 1889 described a blackboard on which was pinned a ‘penny photograph’ of Bellwood; see Sun, 8 Sept. 1889, cited in Sickert 2000, p.56. See also Emmons 1941, pp.47–9, for Sickert and music halls, and his visits to Bellwood in Gower Street.
3) George Henry Hana founded his studio in the Strand in 1894 and Bellwood died in 1896, allowing this photograph to be dated 1894–6. (Hana used the name ‘Hana Studios Ltd’ from 1897 so this particular print was issued after Bellwood’s death.)
4) ‘Her rendering of a song was never mechanical nor stereotyped: though you had heard it fifty times you still listened with pleasure … Finally there was always the chance that some unhappy idiot in the audience might interrupt’ (Black & White, 3 Oct. 1896, p.423 (obits)).
5) ‘Hana, Strand’ was the name Hana used before Hana Studios Ltd.

Carol Blackett-Ord