Historical Theatre Caricatures

A collection of vintage illustrations showcasing theatrical characters, costumes, and scenes from various European operas and pantomimes, emphasizing historical performance art.

Characters in mask at the Opera Theatre during the Mi-Careme (Carnival) ball, Paris, France, illustration from L'Illustration, Journal Universel, No 734, Volume XXIX, March 21, 1857.

Caricatures of characters from the Opera theatre, Paris, France, illustration by Jules Worms from L'Illustration, Journal Universel, No 1147, Volume XLV, February 18, 1865.

CHRISTMAS PANTOMIMES: HAYMARKET. SCENE FROM THE FAIRY BURLESQUE OF THE 'PRINCESS RADIANT; OR, THE STORY OF MAYFLOWER.' UK

Characters in mask at the Opera Theatre during the Mi-Careme (Carnival) ball, Paris, France, illustration from L'Illustration, Journal Universel, No 734, Volume XXIX, March 21, 1857.

SCENE FROM THESPIS AT THE GAIETY THEATRE, 1872 engraving

MEDIAEVAL PASTIME-MINSTRELS, JUGGLERS, AND DWARF.

THE NEW OPERA IVANHOE AT THE ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA HOUSE

A scene from The Taming of the Shrew, Act III, Scene II, by William Shakespeare. After a print by William Satchwell Leney.

A masked ball, 17th century. Men in costumes and masks dance with torches in front of a fireplace in a rustic hall. Some as frigures from the Commedia dell'arte. Un bal masque au XVIIe siecle. After an engraving by Jean Mariette. Lithograph from Henry Rene dAllemagnes Recreations et Passe-Temps, Games and Pastimes, Hachette, Paris, 1906.

THE YELLOW DWARF AT THE ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON, UK, britain, british, europe, united kingdom, great britain, european, Theatre, 1876, Theatre, art, drama, dramatic art, dramatic arts

SCENE FROM 'HINKO,' AT THE QUEEN'S THEATRE, 1871

The masquerade; Genre scenes. A procession of masked men and a woman. One of them holds a broomstick in hand, another a frying pan. Two dwarfs watch. Egg scales broken in the foreground.

December; The twelve months of the year, "Les XII Mois de l'Année". Ice fun. A man and a woman skating to a long stick over the ice around a wax. Other skaters can be seen in the background, one of which has fallen. The print is part of a series of twelve prints with the twelve months of the year.

Man in worship for a woman; Title page for: Les Philosophes Amoureux. Comedy and verse, 1733.in a Departure, a man takes the hand or a woman and looks pervasive. Two one are amusing in the background. Scene from the play "Les Philosophes Amoureux.

Man in worship for a woman, Christian Friedrich Fritzsch, after Nicolaes Aartman, 1733 print In a departure, a man tackles the hand of a woman and looks at her penetratingly. Two men watch amused in the background. Scene from the play "Les Philosophes Amoureux. paper etching

Scene from a play.

Drie mannen in het bos; Le Medecin Malgré Luy.Three men walk over a path through the forest. The one who walks in front is a jug. Scene from the play Le Médecin Malgré Lui (doctor against Wil and Thanks), from Molière.

Drie mannen in het bos; Le médecin malgré luy.Three men walk over a path through the forest. The one who walks in front is a jug. Scene from the play Le Médecin Malgré Lui (doctor against Wil and Thanks), from Molière.

Witches putting a creature into a boiling cauldron, Historical, digitally restored reproduction from an 18th or 19th century original

ALFRESCO AMUSEMENTS, FROM THE PICTURE BY F. SMITH, EXHIBITED AT THE DUDLEY GALLERY, 1874 engraving

At a ball, people are dressed as descendants of various peoples. In the background a small orchestra is playing on a stage. In the foreground left a clown hands out bottles of cologne, Masquerade Ball (title on object), print maker: Lambertus Antonius Claessens, (mentioned on object), intermediary draughtsman: Jacques Kuyper, (mentioned on object), Amsterdam, 1803, paper, etching, h 118 mm × w 75 mm

Various comic actors (including Falstaff) on stage. Date: 1672

The court in the Highlands, 1880, the Gillie Ball, Three Knights of the Garter, Scotland

'SOIREE MUSICALE' AT MANILLA

Circus with monkeys, ca. 1720; Monkey game. Circus show with monkeys that make cord dancing and music. Verses in French and Dutch in the caption. Print No. 4 in a series of 16 prints of approx. 1720 in which monkeys like people figurine in all kinds of household scenes.

Italian Theater Company; La Troupe Italienne. A group of five actors, two women and three men, in the costumes of the Dell'Arte Commed, standing on a stage. On the right a curtain, in the background a decor with trees and a bust of a Sater.

First scene. (title registered) | Small comedians. (IFF 1771-1772) (Title of the whole)

The grinning match, a humourous scene at a country fair, engraving 1775, mezzotint., A man stands on a chair beneath a large, spreading tree on which a tri-corn hat hangs from a limb, his grinning face framed by a horse-collar, a woman and a man look on in the foreground, the man applauds, while a crowd of countrymen on the left, in the rear, encourage him with laughter and applause; with building on the right, in the background.

Booking dance in a shed. In a shed, the game of a bagpipe player and a violinist danced exuberantly by various couples. Others watch, smoking their pipe or have a conversation.

French opera singers Ponchard and Madame Antoinette-Eugenie Rigaud in the comic opera La Neige by Eugene Scribe and Daniel Auber at the Feydeau room, Opera Comique, 1823. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Charles Malo's Almanach des Spectacles par K. Y. Z, Chez Louis Janet, Paris, 1825.

Men lying on a dining table looking at fighting men. Men are at dining table, their slippers are on the ground. They look at a spectacle of men in two-fighting. A fighting man at the dining table is hit by a dagger.

Harvest dance. Prints. 1847. Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Ballet , 19th century, Danseuses Viennoises

Scene from "La Belle Sauvage," at the St. James's Theatre, 1870. London stage production. "The Indian Princess; or, La Belle Sauvage" (1808), is a melodrama by James Nelson Barker about the Pocahontas story. Though originally written as a play, Barker decided to turn it into an operatic melodrama, collaborating with John Bray, who wrote the music. It is the first play that survives in its entirety with Native American characters. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.

TITELPAGINA Voor The two Haven, In The Italian Theater of Gherardi, Parijs 1700.; The two Arlequins.Scene from A Play. Two Harlequin, Two Ladies and Two Gentlemen, Among Chandeliers with Candles. Title Page for The Play Both Harlequins, from Eustache Le Noble, Published In The Italian Theater of Gherardi, from Evaristo Gherardi in 1700.

'Prince Henry, Poins, and Falstaff. (King Henry IV - First Part)', c1870. Creators: William Quiller Orchardson, JC Armytage.

TAMERLANE Mr Palmer as Bajazet and Miss Hopkins as Selima in Act V: 'Now, now thou traitress..' Date: 1776

The month of February: scene on the street with a jester and a soldier in the foreground and figures in the background, which celebrate night. In the margin a two-time poem in Dutch and in French.

Jason et medée. Ballet tragique. British Cartoon Prints Collection .

CHRISTMAS PANTOMIMES: SURREY. SCENE FROM THE PANTOMIME OF 'THE KING OF THE GOLDEN SEAS; OR, HARLEQUIN BLUE-CAP AND THE THREE KINGDOMS.' UK

Funfair of cup and ball, la foire franche des bilboquets. 17th century satirical print showing people from all walks of life obsessed with the game of bilboquet. Lithograph from Henry Rene Allemagne's Sports and Games of Skill (Sports et Jeux d'Adresse), Librairie Hachette, Paris, 1903.

OPEN-AIR PERFORMANCE OF FLETCHER'S 'FAITHFULL SHEPHERDESSE' AT COOMBE HOUSE, SURREY, BY THE 'PASTOTAL PLAYERS'

Teeth; Teeth trecken. There is a stage on the edge of a city where a group of people. On stage is located, among other things, a patient with opened mouth that lets herself go, while he is held by a woman.

Scene from Act 1 of La revanche de Lauzun, at the Odeon Theatre, Paris, France, illustration from L'Illustration, Journal Universel, No 675, Volume XXVII, February 2, 1856.

Two musicians on the stage. Spectators look at two musicing men in a simple stage. The left man plays a lute and the judge plays dancing tambourine. A man spikes through the curtain behind them. Above the performance The text: or new funfair costs and the page number 37. VERSO a text sheet with the lyrics of: Jean Pottage.

This drama was written by Mr Tom Taylor and founded on the history of the assassination plot of 1696. Lord Clancarty (Mr Henry Neville)reveals the plot to the king but refuses to give names of the conspirators. The scene here shows Lord Clancarty being reunited with his wife. 1874

The lost son receives new clothes; The lost Son. In a courtyard full of people, the lost son receives new clothes. Under the show a two-legged French-speaking verse. This print is part of a series of prints around the parable of the lost son, consisting of a title print and ten narrative performances.

A cartoon depicting a drunken orgy on St. Patrick's Day. Illustrated by George Cruikshank (1792-1878) a British caricaturist and book illustrator. Dated 19th century

Dance of death ..

A drunken party with sailors and their women drinking, smoking, and dancing wildly as a band plays. Reproduction of an etching by C. H., c. 1825, after G. Cruikshank.

Act III, Alonso, Art, Banquet, Beard, Cane, Characters, Color Image, Day, Fairies, Fairy, Full Length, Goblin, History, Horizontal, Illustration, Illustration And Painting, Invisible, King, Large Group Of People, Leaf, Literature, Men, Mortals, Naples, Outdoors, Painted Image, Paintings, Past, Perfo

Schiller reads his first play, "Die Räuber" (The Robbers), (1936). Creator: Unknown.

Don Giovanni, the opening scene Date: circa 1890

Red Bull Playhouse, Shakespeare

Shakspeare. Twelfth night, act V, scene I : The street : Duke, Viola, Antonio, officers, Olivia, Priest, & attendants , Streets, Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616, Characters, Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Twelfth night. Thomas Pennant Barton Collection

The spectacular finale of this opera brings the house down in every sense of the word... Date: first performed 1890

Triftly players. Interior of an inn with two men playing trick traces and a third who hoped. There is a man with a wooden leg in the doorway.

Actress Susannah Maria Cibber in the role of Cordelia. Scene from Shakespeares King Lear. Cordelia (actress Susannah Maria Cibber) is outside in the storm. In addition to her a woman who supervises her. Behind them three men and a dog. One of the men has straw in his hat and in his shoes.

Two actors with saber and plumed hat, 1621 print Two standing gentlemen or actors. We see the left on his back. He leans on a wall with his elbow and wears a saber. The judge man greets him and takes off his hat. The print is part of an album. paper engraving head-gear: hat (+ feathers used for clothes). actor (on the stage)

France, 18th century. Paris. Entertainment in a Parisian tavern.

I PAGLIACCI Act 2 : Last scene. Date: 1893

SCENE FROM THE NEW PLAY OF 'FIESCO,' AT DRURY LANE THEATRE

Shakspeare. Twelfth night, act V, scene I : The street : Duke, Viola, Antonio, officers, Olivia, Priest, & attendants , Streets, Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616, Characters, Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Twelfth night. Thomas Pennant Barton Collection

Falstaff, Prince Hal, and their cronies at the Boar's Head Tavern, Eastcheap, Falstaff playing being the King. 'Henry IV Part I' Act II. Scene IV. Illustration of 1856-1858 by George Cruickshank (1792-1878) for 'Henry IV Part I' historical play by William Shakespeare written c1597. Chromolithograph.

PANTOMIME AT DRURY LANE, LONDON, 1870

An English court jester entertains Spanish ladies during a visit by Prince Charles to Madrid. The Spanish Marriage was a planned marriage between Charles and Infanta Maria Anna of Spain. daughter of Philip III of Spain. England. digital reproduction of a historical original.

Performance in ancient Greek Theatre. Performance in ancient Greek Theatre. Illustration, 19th century. Greece and Rome, Jakob Falke, 1879. Color.

Actress Susannah Maria Cibber in the role of Cordelia. Scene from Shakespeares King Lear. Cordelia (actress Susannah Maria Cibber) is outside in the storm. In addition to her a woman who supervises her. Behind them three men and a dog. One of the men has straw in his hat and in his shoes.

Children's magic lantern show at Christmas.

On the stage of the Drury Lane Theatre, Comedy is hanged, Tragedy is stabbed, and Sheridan the playwright lies dead drunk as the theatre is given over to animal entertainments. Coloured etching by S. De Wilde, 1808.

Scene from the ballet Der aus Liebe vermummte Neffe, by Johann C. Schoeller, Russia XIX secolo.

The Taming of the Shrew, 1861. By Sir John Gilbert

Oriental dance, woman, musicians, fire, balls, outdoors, Constantinople, Istanbul, Turkey, historical illustration 1890, Asia

An enraptured audience at a Guignol show in a Paris park Date: 1901

Cockfight; Four genre scenes. A woman and four men watch how two roosters fight each other. With four-line Latin caption.

National amusement in the camp, Dancing Seressaner, Carl Anton Goebel also Göbel -, Lithographic, Johann Höfelich -, publisher

CHRISTMAS PANTOMIMES: ASTLEY'S. SCENE FROM THE PANTOMIME OF 'MR. AND MRS. BRIGGS; OR, PUNCH'S FESTIVAL.' UK

Act 4 Scene 2, Adults Only, Art, Beard, Borachio, Characters, Clerk, Color Image, Comedy, Conrade, Constable, Dogberry, Full Length, Group Of People, History, Horizontal, Illustration, Illustration And Painting, Indoors, Instructing, Law, Literature, Men, Much Ado About Nothing, Night, Occupation, O

King Richard III, Clarence and the Two Assassins, painting by J. Coghlan, Historic, digitally restored reproduction from a 19th century original

Jousting at a ring (jeu de Bague) at a village festival. Men run at a ring mounted on a tree while others dance to music. Lithograph from Henry Rene Allemagne's Sports and Games of Skill (Sports et Jeux d'Adresse), Librairie Hachette, Paris, 1903.

A group of German musicians perform on a wide variety of instruments to provide music for dancers : lute, bagpipes, clarinet, trombone, flute, drum, monochord are featured. Date: 1520

The Laughing Audience From the original design by Hogarth from The Works of Hogarth published London 1833, Historisch, digital restaurierte Reproduktion von einer Vorlage aus dem 19. Jahrhundert, Record date not stated

Cultural state in the 16th century, merrymaking on the ice, with sledge and horse on a frozen lake, Germany, Historic, digitally restored reproduction...

Entertaining a children's party Date: 1874

The Singing Lesson, the Music Teacher and his Pupils, Singers with Guitar Accompaniment, Historical, Digital Reproduction of an Original 19th century ...

Dance of death: death and the merchant or the usurer. Etching attributed to J.-A. Chovin, 1720-1776, after the Basel dance of death.

In the foreground two masked persons flee a fight. Behind them a cart with musicians dressed as devils and jesters playing kettle music. These musicians are holding a serinade for Faustina. A scene from Francisco de Quevedo's work 'The Night Runner,' Night Fight with Musicians Failed Serinade , print maker: Caspar Luyken, bookseller: Jan Claesz ten Hoorn, Leiden, 1699, paper, etching, h 136 mm × w 85 mm

Illustration showing a theatrical performance at the Exposition Universelle of 1900. This was a fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next.

Medieval period. Feats in Balancing. English Manuscript. 13th century. Entertainers.

Scene from "La Partie de Chasse de Henri Quatre", at the St. James's Theatre, 1845. London stage production of a play by Charles Collé. 'The situation is that in which the Miller, with his lantern, is attending the benighted King...Monsieur Lafont's representation of the gallant is excellent. In Collé's comedy of "La Partie de Chasse de Henri IV" in which he appeared on Monday as the gay King, his reception was very flattering. The play is founded on our old story of "The Miller of Mansfield," and the part afforded good scope for M. Lafont's acting'. Fro

MISS ROMER, IN THE OPERA OF 'GUILLAUME TELL,' AT DRURY-LANE THEATRE

Tobias and the fish; Tobias in need by a visch. Tobias washes his feet at a shore and scares a large fish in the water. The performance is among the performance in six languages.

Village fair, ca. 1610, Willem Isaacsz. van Swanenburg, after David Vinckboons, 1595 - 1612 print Large performance of the fair in a village. On the right a stage is built up for a theater performance by a rederijkerschappenchap and a farce is performed for the collected audience. The tamboer is on the ladder while the rederijkersblazoen is hung above the stage. With farmers and elegant citizens. Furthermore, dancing farmers, a meal for an inn, making music, drinking, children playing and vomiting. In the background a riding competition or bird cutting. With caption of 4 lines in Latin and Dutch. Leiden paper engraving pleasure fair and circus. performance in the open air (pleasure fair). 'pull-the-goose'. folk dancing (men and women together)

Sir John Falstaff Reviewing His Ragged Regiment, 1858 By Sir John Gilbert, A scene from Henry IV, Part II, Act III, Scene 2, Costume, Oil Painting, Literature, William Shakespeare, Animal, Dog, Collie

Music lessons, women and a man play musical instruments in an elegant baroque salon, historically, digitally restored reproduction of a template from the 19th century, Record Date Not Stated

Peasants Dancing in a Barn. Interior of a barn with dancing farmers. A man with a winch and a boy with violin make music. A dog and a cat are fighting in the foreground.

Increasing popularity of the Roller Skate. George du Maurier cartoon from 'Punch', 18 March 1876

Mr. Garrick in the Character of Abel Drugger, Mr Burton and Mr Palmer in the Characters of Subtle and face. Alchemist Act 2 Scene 6th..

Play at the bottom of the sea, at the Theatre Historique: 1 fire on the Washington ship, Sir Reginald and his wife, 2 Norton saving Miss Emily, 3 divers and the murder at the bottom of the sea, 4 Karl digging up a Sir Reginald's chest full of jewels, Paris, France, illustration by Baude from L'Illustration, Journal Universel, No 1767, Volume LXIX, January 6, 1877.

France, Paris, Act II of Samson and Delilah by Charles Camille Saint-Saëns, performance at Paris Eden Theatre

The concert

Series Opera Theatre Old Berlin, Maerkisches Ringelstechen, Elector Johann Georg celebrates the christening of his firstborn in Berlin in 1590, digitally restored reproduction of a collector's picture from c. 1900, Liebig collector's picture, exact date unknown

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