Pictorial Shakespeare, 1880-1890 - eTheses Repository - University ...

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of habits and jnnmivra, and ic he wantonly to
abu,.;e the faith accorded to him?
(1.225)
The Shakespearean productions of Charleo Xean discharged this
obligation to the full, but by the 'eighties the practice of
staging the plays o& though they were te: to for a series of
historical paintings was being questioned. F.van; eline and
;:':c;v.'in Blashfield, two A: :oric 'n journalists* observed in an
article "Pictorial Art on the .«. ge":
f.i.:co« .'.ve must coo tune our actors, let us
learn to a-^ly the laws of beauty in form
and colour guided by aeothetics rather than
by nre'iacolosyj the latter, pure and cirn-ilc,
we do not v/antj it would hamper us, ^but decent
fitness always holos* Anything oat re is badf
unfamiliar nr-Lie.ooloric; .1 u -liness cho.ild,
of course, be let alone, but unfariiliar archaeolo,
icr?l beauty by uoage soon becoines
fani?-i; r*
( The C entury tic? ^ o.zine , X.av (IHOO)
533-546; P.537J*
Go v;in nid iu -field v;ere obliged to defend themselves on the
one hand a: rrinf.;t accusations of inaccuracy, and. on the other
again; t the fl ionic sal of their v/ork ac mist^Ironly a r '
The ace uut of critical opinions on Art drav/o oti «iic art-
,j k )urnt licni v/hich ^rolif©rr!.tcci in the last decades of the
cenuury. Altiioii^h this part of the t:iosis is -;ri-. :rily a
L;tu: y of ta^rbe, I h ve attcnrrted to .liov; the rol" oionrliip
uctv/cen : inters' technique and public jurl -ei en to anr?. e:c-cctatioiic.
,i .ilarly, the account of thoatrical ,cn..''>r;if ncos
d.av;o ./ncrevor po iolo on in-' n-nation ro^'rciinr r/ia^e techniquos
- ">ron tbo >ka in p. roicu.l-r - as v;cll s reviews* I
have alf'.o u:.;o>J private letters and -or-ocrr; oT ;nr icr. 3ns
involved wnoro these hr.d nay boerin.^ on tu-bietic docirjimc.
Little iiifor .ation h.^s cono tc li.^bt co'ioerning tho i'inances
of London tneatres .:u-in.-» the '"i-ntioG, but it :.u.y be voted
tn: t by i;nj.c ti;;;e duration of run, r-ithcr tn, n frequency of
revival, n -d bee x.;c tho criterion of a production' u uccess.
tnis ooint of viev; Irvin^'c "_."Cb "Jill, "\ rrett'c. i; . .- t