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'Operatic Prima Donnas'

1 of 2 portraits of Rebecca Isaacs (later Roberts)

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© National Portrait Gallery, London

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'Operatic Prima Donnas'

by Frederick Holland Mares, after Henry Hering, and Mayer Brothers, and Richard Burton & Co, and Disdéri, and Camille Silvy, and probably William Edward Kilburn, and Southwell Brothers, and John Burton, and Clarkington & Co (Charles Clarkington),
albumen carte-de-visite, 1863
3 7/8 in. x 2 1/2 in. (97 mm x 64 mm) overall
Given by Terence Pepper, 2014
Photographs Collection
NPG x197566

Artistsback to top

Sittersback to top

Related worksback to top

  • NPG x74355: Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa (source portrait)
  • NPG x12677: Adelina Patti as Lucia in 'Lucia de Lammermoor' (source portrait)
  • NPG x20048: Jenny Lind (source portrait)
  • NPG x22333: Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby (source portrait)

Portrait setback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1863back to top

Current affairs

The opening of the world's first underground railway, with the Metropolitan Railway running trains between Bishop's Street, Padington and Farringdon. Work had begun in 1860, using the 'cut-and-cover' method of construction. The Metropolitan line inspired the construction of other underground railways - the Parisian 'Metro' took its name from the line.
The Football Association is founded.

Art and science

Julia Margaret Cameron takes up photography, taking portraits of some of the most celebrated figures of the day, with her romantic style capturing the sense of nostalgia and longing that characterised the age.
Kingsley's Water Babies; A Fairy Tale for Children is published, the hugely popular tale of drowned chimney sweep Tom's moral education in the river world of the water babies. It inspired the 1978 film starring James Mason.

International

At an international conference, the Geneva Public Welfare Society calls on the sixteen nations present to form voluntary units to help the wartime wounded. The society, comprised of five Swiss citizens and led by Henri Dunant, who had been deeply affected by the casualties he had witnessed at the Battle of Solferino, became the National Red Cross Societies, adopting the emblem of a red cross on white background.

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