Drawing

Two pencil sketches of the actor manager Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905) mounted on a thin sheet of cream card.

The top sketch shows a scene from Charles I by William Gorman Wills (1828–1891) in which Irving played the title role. Irving first produced the play in 1872 to great public acclaim, and it was revived in 1879. The inspiration for both the text and the setting of the play was the painting An Episode from the Happier Days of Charles I by Frederick Goodall (1822–1904).

In his production of the The Lyons Mail by Charles Reade (1814 -1884) Irving played both the hard-drinking villain Dubosc, who has robbed the Lyons Mail, and the genteel hero Lesurques who is mistaken for him and arrested. The image in the lower sketch shows Irving in the role of Dubosc, a wine bottle and glass by his side.

The artist has signed both sketches with initials which appear to be either 'F.W.L' or 'T.W.L'.