William Charles Macready

This portraitback to top

An authentic oil portrait of Macready by Maclise, painted in 1835, is at the Drury Lane Theatre (reproduced The Diaries of Macready, I, facing 272). In 1836 Maclise painted Macready as Macbeth, in the scene with the weird sisters, exhibited RA, 1836 (22). In 1849 he painted the picture of Macready as Werner, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, exhibited RA, 1851 (6), also Charles Dickens, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1970 (G69), reproduced in catalogue, and Daniel Maclise, Arts Council at the NPG, 1972 (85). The NPG picture is similar in pose to portraits by Maclise, but the handling seems much too wooden and insensitive to be by his hand. Maclise was a constant visitor at Macready's house, often in company with Charles Dickens and John Forster, and an enthusiastic admirer of him as an actor.

Physical descriptionback to top

Blue eyes, dark hair (discoloured). Dressed in a dark stock, white shirt, white waistcoat, dark suit (discoloured). Brown covered books on table with red cloth. Floor dark green. Background colour brown.

Provenanceback to top

J. H. Leigh; sold Christie's, 7 July 1916 (lot 141), bought Glassier; Christie's, 22 November 1946 (lot 95), bought Leggatt Brothers, and purchased from them, 1947.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Ormond, Early Victorian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1973, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for Daniel Maclise

View all known portraits for William Charles Macready