A Strolling Player

Date1791

Artist/Maker Woodward & Cruikshanks

Publisher S. W. Fores

OriginEngland, London

MediumBlack and white line engraving and etching with period color

DimensionsOH : 11 3/8" x OW: 8 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1930-471

DescriptionUpper margin reads: "A STROLLING PLAYER".
Lower margin reads: "Grant me great Mars! once more in arms to shine, / An break like lightning thro' th' embatled line/ Thro' fields of death to wirl the rapid car/ And blaze amidst the thunder of the war,/ Resistless as the bolt that rends the grove,/ Or greatly perish like the son of Jove./ Alexander the great/ Pub. Feb 16, 1791. by S.W. Fores N 3 Piccadilly"Label TextAn actor stands on the stage, wearing contemporary dress of a military cut, his hair in a pigtail queue which curls upwards grotesquely; his left arm is held out horizontally with raised palm; in his right hand he clutches a small cane; his expression is melancholy with upturned eyes; beneath the design is etched in two columns:

ALEXANDER THE GREAT (1770) was an adaptation of Lee's RIVAL QUEENS OR THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, 1677.ProvenanceBefore 1930, Robert Fridenberg (New York, NY); 1930-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).