Sir Henry Irving as Dubosc in 'The Lyons Mail'
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Sir Henry Irving as Dubosc in 'The Lyons Mail'
by Harry Furniss
pen and ink, after 1877
11 3/4 in. x 8 3/8 in. (300 mm x 215 mm)
Purchased, 1947
Reference Collection
NPG D117
Sitterback to top
- Sir Henry Irving (John Henry Brodribb) (1838-1905), Actor-manager. Sitter in 123 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Harry Furniss (1854-1925), Caricaturist. Artist or producer associated with 435 portraits, Sitter in 13 portraits.
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1877back to top
Current affairs
Trial of social activists Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh following their publication of a book by the American birth-control campaigner Charles Knowlton, which suggested that working class families should be able to practice birth control. Although found guilty, the case was thrown out on a technical fault.Art and science
The Grosevenor Gallery opens, founded by Sir Coutts Lindsay, as a rival to the Royal Academy. It exhibited work by artists such as Edward Burne-Jones and Walter Crane, outside of the British mainstream, and became famous as the home of the Aesthetic movement.The first Lawn Tennis Championship is held at Wimbledon with around 20 male competitors, witnessed by a few hundred spectators. Spencer Gore the first singles champion, wins 12 guineas.
International
The American inventor Thomas Edison invents the tin foil phonograph, combining the technologies of the telegraph and telephone. Experimenting with a stylus on a tinfoil cylinder, he recorded and played back the short message 'Mary had a little lamb'.Comments back to top
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