American Art Collaborative

Sir Henry Irving (1838–1905) was the leading actor of his day in London. This print, made around the same time that Whistler painted his portrait (now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), shows him posing as Philip II, the sixteenth century Spanish monarch whom Irving portrayed in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s play Queen Mary (1875). Drypoint—which involves drawing with a steel needle directly onto a copper plate that is then inked for printing—was an appropriate medium for capturing the theatrical presence of Irving. Drypoint’s characteristic spontaneity and quickness allowed Whistler to bring out the actor’s dynamic qualities, so that the Irving shown on paper communicates a sense of the celebrated performer’s charisma on stage.