Drawing

Artist and costume designer Tom Heslewood (1868-1939) knew actor-manager Henry Irving personally and, after Irving's death in 1905, acquired most of the great actor's stage costumes. This watercolour drawing shows Irving in 14 of his roles:

the title role in Robert Macaire; Jingle in Pickwick, later renamed Jingle; Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII; Cardinal Richelieu in Richelieu; Lear in King Lear; Richard in Richard III; the title role in Louis XI; Shylock in The Merchant of Venice; the title role in Hamlet; Mathias in The Bells; Dubosc in The Lyons Mail; the title role in Charles I; Dr Primrose in Olivia, and Mephistopheles in Faust. Some of the characters are grouped together and are getting on very well: the Cardinals are seated together on a bench, Dubosc and King Charles enjoy a convivial drink and a smoke, and Dr Primrose and Mephistopheles seem happy in each other's company.