Singleton, Henry (1766-1839; English)
Edmund Kean
Oil on panel, c.22.86 x 12.7 cm
Presented by Henry Tolman Dwight, 1869
Private collection, England

This small panel, last recorded in the NGV collection in the 1894 catalogue, now appears to be in a private collection in England, according to advice received from Melbourne painter Caroline Williams in 2024.

It portrays famous British Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean (1789-1833), of whom several other portraits are extant, including an 1814 canvas in the V&A Museum by John James Halls, showing Kean in the role of Richard III (see reference below).

Singleton, a portrait-painter and miniaturist, also had ambitions to be a major history painter; his painting Imogen found by Arvigarus, Belarius and Guiderus in the forest (c.1790-95), depicting a scene from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, was acquired for the NGV in 2002.

The donor (1823-71), who migrated to Melbourne in 1855, was a bookseller and publisher. His list of publications included Peter Pindar’s Australian Celebrities, or Personal Portraits of 100 Theatrical Stars of Various Magnitudes (1865), and The Hamlet Controversy. Was Hamlet Mad? (1867). Dwight’s circle of acquaintances included Archibald Michie and author Henry Kendall.

 

Refs.

AR 1870 (long version), p.188, Schedule XLIII (as presented 1869); NGV 1894, p.126 (V.Buvelot Gallery, 8thbay, no.18; as measuring 9 x 5 inches); not listed in NGV 1905 

Many thanks to Caroline Williams for sending the ID photo shown here, advising that the work is in the collection of a relative in England (email correspondence, Dec.2024).

For Kean, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Kean. For the 1814 portrait of him as Richard III see https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O84968/edmund-kean-as-richard-in-painting-halls-john-james/; and for other portraits of him, see http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp02477&wPage=0 and http://images.library.illinois.edu/projects/actors/index.asp (refer index)

For Singleton, see Bénézit 12, p.1271 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Singleton_%28painter%29; and for the work acquired for the NGV in 2002, http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/73664/.

For Dwight, see http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dwight-henry-tolman-3460 (biography by Ian McLaren, published in ADB vol.4, 1972, and Ian MacLaren, Henry Tolman Dwight: bookseller and publisher, Parkville: University of Melbourne Library, 1989