
Pamela Colman Smith1878–1951Ellen Terry played Mistress Page at His Majesty's Theatre in Herbert Beerbohm Tree's revival of The Merry Wives of Windsor which opened on 10 June 1902. The other favourite actress of the day, Madge Kendal, played Mistress Ford, and together they delighted audiences with the comic business. Tree had made a success with his production, and his portrayal of the rotund Falstaf, in 1889, and revived it with two of the greatest actresses of the day in honour of the coronation of King Edward VII, which was due to take place in June 1902 but was postponed until August.
The artist Pamela Colman-Smith was born in London to the American merchant, Charles Edward Smith, and his Jamaican wife, Corinne. Her father's job meant frequent trips abroad and, after the death of her mother when she was ten, she joined the Lyceum Theatre out of a desire for company. Her experience of touring theatre was to influence her later work. She studied art in Brooklyn from 1893 until 1899 but returned to England in 1899 where she became a designer and illustrator, most notably of the Rider-Waite-Smith pack of tarot cards and of theatrical subjects.
Victoria and Albert Museum
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