William Shakespeare

after John Faed
albumen carte-de-visite, 1864 or before
3 5/8 in. x 2 1/4 in. (92 mm x 58 mm) image size
Given by Algernon Graves, 1916
Photographs Collection
NPG Ax39783

Sitterback to top

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Dramatist and poet. Sitter associated with 105 portraits.

Artistback to top

John Faed (1819-1902), Painter. Artist or producer associated with 7 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Small cartes-de-visites like the one displayed here could be purchased cheaply. Collectors pasted them into albums of celebrities and national heroes. Images of Shakespeare in the home also conveniently suggested that their owners were cultured and well-educated.

Related worksback to top

NPG D41647: William Shakespeare (based on same portrait)
NPG D41648: William Shakespeare (based on same portrait)

Portrait setback to top

Sir George Scharf albumen cartes-de-visite, (Distinguished Persons)

Subject/Themeback to top

Books and libraries

Events of 1864back to top

Current affairs

First of the Contagious Diseases Act. These acts allowed for the arrest, medical inspection and confinement of any woman suspected of being a prostitute in the port towns. Following huge public outcry over their discrimination against women, notably led by Josephine Butler, leader of the Ladies' National Association, the acts were eventually repealed.
Octavia Hill starts work on slums, and the International Working Men's Association is founded in London.

Art and science

The Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell presents his discoveries in the field of electromagnetics to the Royal Society. His paper A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field expresses the basic laws of electricity and magnetism in unified fashion. Maxwell's equations, as his rules came to be known, helped create modern physics, laying the foundation for future work in special relativity and quantum mechanics.

International

Austria and Prussia combine forces to seize Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark.
Britain cedes Corfu, acquired from France in the Second Treaty of Paris (1815) to Greece. Although Britain had vigorously suppressed an uprising in 1849 in Cephalonia aiming to restore Iolian islands, the government changed policy throughout the 1850s and 60s.

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