Maria Dickons (née Poole)
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Maria Dickons (née Poole)
by Alfred Edward Chalon
ink, 1815
5 7/8 in. x 5 in. (150 mm x 127 mm)
Purchased, 1922
Primary Collection
NPG 1962(c)
Sitterback to top
- Maria Dickons (née Poole) (circa 1770-1833), Opera and sacred music soprano. Sitter in 2 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Alfred Edward Chalon (1780-1860), Portrait and subject painter. Artist or producer associated with 180 portraits, Sitter associated with 1 portrait.
This portraitback to top
This portrait of the opera and sacred music soprano Maria Dickons shows her in the role of 'the Contessa' in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro. Three years before Chalon made this portrait of her, Dickons had taken this role in the first performance in Britain of the opera; Angelica Catalani was 'Susannah'. This spirited pen-and-ink caricature depicts Dickons as she would appear from the footlights. Her mouth is open in song and her right hand is clutched to her bosom.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 178
- Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 632
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Alfred Chalon at the Opera (25 May 2010 - 13 February 2011)
Events of 1815back to top
Current affairs
John and James Leigh Hunt are released from prison after a two year sentence for slandering the Prince of Wales in their outspoken, radical periodical the Examiner.Corn Laws are introduced to protect against the collapse in prices which would inevitably follow peace with France, prompting riots in London.
Art and science
Humphry Davy invents the miners' safety lamp though its reception is clouded by William Clanny and George Stephenson who present rival models in the same year.British Institution arranges first in innovative series of Old Master exhibitions
provoking virulent attack on its patrons for neglecting contemporary art.
International
Napoleon returns to France from exile in Elba and resumes power until his abdication on 22 June; a period known as the 'Hundred Days'.Battle of Waterloo concludes the Anglo-French struggle that had lasted more than a century. Peace of Vienna establishes Britain's global political, economic and imperial dominance which lasts for the next hundred years.
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