Woodburytype Ellen Terry "Portia/ Balthazar" Portrait From The Theatre: "No. 1, Third Series. Woodburytype"

1875. Single plate (22.9 x14.8cm) extracted from an early issue of Irving's The Theatre magazine, comprising tipped-in Woodburytype photograph (14.6 x 9.6cm) of Terry seated in her costume for the Merchant of Venice, with "The Theatre, No. 1, Third Series. Woodburytype" printed directly underneath. Terry sits aslant to her right, looking to her left, with her left hand raised and index finger pointing up, two books piled in the background tightly framing the back of her hand. With (mis)quotation from Act 4, Scene 1 in facsimile of Terry's flamboyant hand underneath: ""Come Merchant have you anything to say"?/ Portia/ Ellen Terry:". Triangle of white to bottom right corner of photograph, presumably from glitch in its reproduction, minute patch of wear to Terry's right cheek, page mount a little soiled, toned and wrinkled. Still, a pleasingly sharp and rich photograph for its age, indeed, as one would expect from the expensive Woodburytype process. Very good


The University of Washington Libraries Special Collections holds The Victorian Theater Celebrities Woodburytype Album (c. 1875-85), featuring gilt-framed Woodburytype photographs of Victorian theatre celebrities, plus gilt-framed inscriptions; this plate of Terry as Portia/ Balthazar features as Item 4 in the album. Vita Sackville-West would borrow Terry's costume for the July 1910 Shakespearean fund-raising Masque at Knole, and later posed for a highly sympathetic portrait in the bright red robes by Clare Tony Atwood, one of Edith Craig's partners. The painting is held at Smallhythe, Terry's home and museum, now owned by the National Trust.