Watercolour illustration created for publication in an illustrated newspaper or magazine, probably The Penny Illustrated Paper. It shows a two scenes from a production of <i>Sapho</i>. The first image, (on the left hand side of the illustration), shows the moment when 'Sapho meets Gaussin at the Ball', the second image, (on the right hand side), shows the moment when Gaussin discovers Fanny with Joseph.
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There have been several adaptations of Sapho, inspired by the novel of the same name by Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897). These include an 1885 play by Daudet and Adolphe Belotand, a pièce lyrique for which the music was composed by Jules Massenet (1842-1912) to a French libretto by Henri Cain (1857-1937)and Arthur Bernèdeby (1871-1937), (first performed on 27 November 1897 by the Opéra Comique at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Place du Châtelet in Paris), and a 1900 American play by Clyde Fitch (1865-1909).
The illustration is not dated or signed but annotation on the rear indicates that it was drawn by the artist F.V.Poole.
This item is one of several theatrical drawings from a collection of sketches commissioned from contemporary artists to be printed in illustrated magazines. The collection was donated to the museum by Sir William James Ingram in 1914.
