Description: This is a very significant and HISTORIC Antique 1829 American New York THEATRE Actor BOOTH Portrait Painting, Gouache on Paper, depicting John Randolph Scott (1808 - 1856 portrait in photo 23,) an esteemed early to mid-19th century American actor and a close friend of the famous Booth family of actors, frequently performing alongside Junius Brutus Booth Sr. (1796 - 1852 portrait in photo 24,) the father of Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth (1838 - 1865.) This portrait displays an elegantly dressed Scott, in his theatrical role as Julian St. Pierre in the popular 19th century American play, The Wife. In a striking coincidence, John Wilkes Booth also played the role of St. Pierre in The Wife at Mrs. H.A. Perry's Metropolitan Theatre, Detroit, Michigan in 1861. Booth's friend, John Albaugh, was also in the cast. A handwritten artist's annotation in ink, at the bottom edge of this painting reads: "J.R. Scott as St. Pierre in The Wife. Played with J.B. Booth at Park Theatre, New York 1829 (Debut.)" There is also an artist's signature, written in ink along the left edge, which reads illegibly: "Aug. Jaedliberg(?)" I have no clue who this could be, but perhaps you recognize the artist or their work? Aside from the significant Booth family connection, this artwork has a direct connection to the historic Park Theatre, New York's first public theatre, which was tragically destroyed by a fire in 1848, less than twenty years after this artwork was created. There is only one known existing artifact that is similar to this one, and it is a simple wood engraving on paper that depicts J.R. Scott in his St. Pierre costume, which is housed in archives of the University of Illinois Theatrical Print Collection. Approximately 11 3/4 x 18 inches (including frame.) Actual artwork is approximately 10 1/2 x 16 3/4 inches. Very good condition for nearly 200 years of age and storage, with some mild spots of soiling, creasing, and speckles of abrasion to the paper surface. Additionally, the antique gilded wood frame has speckled edge wear, material loss and chipping (please see photos.) This museum worthy piece of early American and New York theatrical history is Priced to Sell. I will give special consideration to any Offers from American museum institutions. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Acquired in Pasadena, California. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About this Item: Park Theatre (Manhattan) The Park Theatre, originally known as the New Theatre, was a playhouse in New York City, located at 21–25 Park Row in the present Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan, about 200 feet (61 m) east of Ann Street and backing Theatre Alley. The location, at the north end of the city, overlooked the park that would soon house City Hall. French architect Marc Isambard Brunel collaborated with fellow émigré Joseph-François Mangin and his brother Charles on the design of the building in the 1790s. Construction costs mounted to precipitous levels, and changes were made in the design; the resulting theatre had a rather plain exterior. The doors opened in January 1798.In its early years, the Park enjoyed little to no competition in New York City. Nevertheless, it rarely made a profit for its owners or managers, prompting them to sell it in 1805. Under the management of Stephen Price and Edmund Simpson in the 1810s and 1820s, the Park enjoyed its most successful period. Price and Simpson initiated a star system by importing English talent and providing the theatre a veneer of upper-class respectability. Rivals such as the Chatham Garden and Bowery theatres appeared in the 1820s, and the Park had to adapt to survive. Blackface acts and melodrama squeezed Italian opera and English drama out of their preferential positions. Nevertheless, the theatre maintained its upscale image until it burned down in 1848.ConstructionIn the late 18th century, New York's only playhouse was the decaying and increasingly low-brow John Street Theatre. Tired of attending such an establishment, a group of wealthy New Yorkers began planning the construction of a new playhouse in 1795. Investors bought 113 shares at $375 each to cover the estimated $42,375 cost. To plan the structure, the owners hired celebrated architect Marc Isambard Brunel, a Frenchman who had fled to New York to avoid the Reign of Terror and was then the city's engineer. Part way through construction, however, the project ran out of money. The owners sold more shares for what would eventually mount to a construction cost of more than $130,000. As a cost-saving measure, Brunel's exterior design for the building was not implemented. The resulting three-story structure measured 80 feet (24 m) wide by 165 feet (50 m) deep and was made of plain dressed stone. The overall effect was an air of austerity. The interiors, on the other hand, were quite lavish. The building followed the traditional European style of placing a gallery over three tiers of boxes, which overlooked the U-shaped pit.Early managementThe section of Manhattan where the theatre stood was not stylish: the New Theatre, as it was called, was neighbor to Bridewell Prison, a tent city's worth of squatters, and the local poorhouse. Lewis Hallam, Jr., and John Hodgkinson, both members of the John Street Theatre company, obtained the building's lease. They hired remnants of the Colonial Old American Company to form the nucleus of the theatre's in-house troupe and thus give the establishment the sheen of tradition and American culture. Meanwhile, the men quarreled, and construction continued languorously. The theatre finally held its first performance on January 29, 1798, despite still being under construction. The gross was an impressive $1,232, and, according to theatre historian T. Allston Brown, hundreds of potential patrons had to be turned away.New York newspapers generally praised the New Theatre:On Monday evening last, the New Theatre was opened to the most overflowing house that was ever witnessed in this city. Though the Commissioners have been constrained to open it in an unfinished state, it still gave high satisfaction. The essential requisites of hearing and seeing have been happily attained. We do not remember to have been in any Theatre where the view of the stage is so complete from all parts of the house, or where the actors are heard with such distinctness. The house is made to contain about 2,000 persons. The audience part, though wanting in those brilliant decorations which the artists have designed for it, yet exhibited a neatness and simplicity which were highly agreeable. The stage was everything that could be wished. The scenery was executed in a most masterly style. The extensiveness of the scale upon which the scenes are executed, the correctness of the designs, and the elegance of the painting, presented the most beautiful views which the imagination can conceive. The scenery was of itself worth a visit to the theatre.The theatre offered performances on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. William Dunlap eventually joined the management team. Hallam parted mid-season, and Hodgkinson waited for season's end before doing the same. Dunlap remained as sole proprietor; his expenses were so great that he had to make at least $1,200 per week to break even. He left in 1805 after declaring bankruptcy. After a few more failed managers, the owners sold the theatre to John Jacob Astor and John Beekman in 1805. These men kept it until its demolition in 1848.The Park as high cultureOver three months in 1807, English-born architect John Joseph Holland remodeled the theatre's interior. He added gas lighting, coffee rooms, roomier boxes, and a repainted ceiling.After acquiring a controlling interest in the theatre, Stephen Price became manager in 1808. He instituted a star system, whereby he paid English actors and actresses to play English dramas there. Price spent much time in England, including four years (1826–1830) as manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where he recruited successful actors for the Park and for a circuit of theatres in other American cities. During this period, Price left much of the operating management of the theatre to Edmund Simpson. The Park at this point was already known for high-class entertainments, but Price and Simpson's policies helped to reinforce this as they booked English drama, Italian opera, and other upper-class bills, such as actress Clara Fisher. Price and Simpson also fostered the careers of many American performers, including Edwin Forrest and Charlotte Cushman.The Park burned down in May 1820, and was entirely destroyed except for its exterior walls. The owners rebuilt the following year, and reopened in September 1821. The company performed at the Anthony Street Theatre during the rebuilding.In the early 1820s, the New Theatre was New York's only theatre, and the lack of competition allowed the theatre to enjoy its most profitable period. The Chatham Garden Theatre was built in 1823 and provided the first real challenge to the Park's primacy; the Bowery Theatre followed in 1826. The New Theatre, having lost its newness, became known as the Park Theatre around this time. At first, each of the rivals aimed for the same upper-class audience. However, by the late 1820s and early 1830s, the Bowery and Chatham Garden had begun to cater to a more working-class clientele. In comparison, the Park became the theatre of choice for bon ton. This was helped by the evolution of its neighborhood. New York home owners had steadily moved northward from Bowling Green so that by this point, the Park stood in an upper-class residential area and fronted City Hall and a large park. Coffeehouses and hotels soon followed.Despite its upper-class luster, however, some commentators found due cause to criticize the Park. In her landmark book, Domestic Manners of the Americans, the British writer Frances Trollope gave a mixed review:The piece was extremely well got up, and on this occasion we saw the Park Theatre to advantage, for it was filled with well-dressed company; but still we saw many 'yet unrazored lips' polluted with the grim tinge of hateful tobacco, and heard, without ceasing, the spitting, which of course is its consequence. If their theaters had the orchestra of the Feydeau, and a choir of angels to boot, I could find but little pleasure, so long as they were followed by this running accompaniment of thorough base.Final yearsBy the late 1830s, blackface acts and Bowery-style melodrama had come to eclipse traditional drama in popularity for New York audiences. Simpson adapted, booking more novelty acts and entertainments that emphasized spectacle over high culture. The patronage changed, as well, as the New York Herald noted:On Friday night the Park Theatre contained 83 of the most profligate and abandoned women that ever disgraced humanity; they entered in the same door, and for a time mixed indiscriminately with 63 virtuous and respectable ladies. ... Men of New York, take not your wives and daughters to the Park Theatre, until Mr. Simpson pays some respect to them by constructing a separate entrance for the abandoned of the sex.Nevertheless, the theatre's traditional patronage continued to support it, and the Park largely maintained its high-class reputation.Edgar Allan Poe wrote a more critical editorial in the Broadway Journal:The well-trained company of rats at the Park Theatre understand, it is said, their cue perfectly. It is worth the price of admission to see their performance. By long training they know precisely the time when the curtain rises, and the exact degree in which the audience is spellbound by what is going on. At the sound of the bell [signaling the start of the show] they sally out; scouring the pit for chance peanuts and orange-peel. When, by the rhyming couplets, they are made aware that the curtain is about to fall, they disappear—through the intensity of the performers. A profitable engagement might be made, we think, with "the celebrated Dog Bill" [part of William Cole's act in P. T. Barnum's American Museum].The Park Theatre was finally destroyed by fire on December 16, 1848. The Astor family opted not to rebuild it, the more fashionable clientele having moved north to Washington Square and Fifth Avenue; instead they had stores constructed on the site. Junius Brutus Booth Junius Brutus Booth (1 May 1796 – 30 November 1852) was an English-born American actor. He was the father of actor John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. His other children included Edwin Booth, the foremost tragedian of the mid-to-late 19th century, Junius Brutus Booth Jr., an actor and theatre manager, and Asia Booth Clarke, a poet and writer.Early life and educationBooth was born in St Pancras, London, the son of Richard Booth, a lawyer who was a strong supporter of the Patriot cause, and Jane Elizabeth Game. His paternal grandfather was John Booth, a silversmith, and his paternal grandmother Elizabeth Wilkes was a relative of politician and journalist John Wilkes. While he was growing up, Booth's father tried to settle his son in a lengthy succession of professions. Booth recalls of his childhood, "I was destined by my Controllers first for the Printing office, then to be an architect, then to be a sculptor and modeler, then a lawyer, then a sailor, of all of these I preferred those of sculptor and modeler."On 26 September 1811, Sarah Blackbeard, a woman from Shoreditch, gave birth to a son, William. Called before a magistrate in March 1812, she stated that "one Junius Brutus Booth who resides at his Father's No. 1 Dove Row in the said Parish of St Leonard Shoreditch Gentleman... is the true and only Father of such Child." She repeated this as sworn evidence in 1813, when the child became chargeable on the parish under the English Poor Laws, giving Booth's address then as Queen Street, Bloomsbury.In August 1814, Junius met Marie Christine Adelaide Delannoy while boarding at her mother's home in Brussels. She followed him to London where they eventually married on 17 May 1815, soon after his 19th birthday. Their first child, Amelia Portia Adelaide Booth, was born 4 months, 2 weeks and 4 days later, on 5 October 1815, but died 7 July 1816. Their only child to survive infancy was Richard Junius Booth (1819–1868).CareerBooth's interests in theatre came after he attended a production of Othello at the Covent Garden Theatre. The prospects of fame, fortune and freedom were very appealing to young Booth. He displayed a talent for acting from an early age, deciding on a career on stage by the age of 17. He performed roles in several small theatres throughout England and joined a tour of the Low Countries in 1814, returning the following year to make his London debut.Booth gained national renown in England with his performance in the title role of Richard III in 1817 at the Covent Garden Theatre. Critics compared his performances favorably with those of Edmund Kean, who was at the time the foremost tragedian in Britain. Partisans of the two actors, called Boothites and Keanites, would occasionally start rows at venues where the two were playing together. This did not stop the two from performing in the same plays; Kean and Booth acted in several Shakespearean productions at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane from 1817 to 1821. Kean then saw Booth as a threat and orchestrated a way for the two of them to perform those roles yet again, planning to outperform his opponent. Kean's long-standing presence contributed to Booth's never-ending comparisons to his rival.Move to the United StatesIn 1821, Booth emigrated to the United States with Mary Ann Holmes, a flower girl, abandoning his wife and their young son. Booth and Holmes claimed to be married that year and settled in 1822 near Bel Air, Maryland. For years they lived in a log cabin Booth bought, moved to his 150 acres, and whitewashed. Just before his death, he began building a much grander house which he named Tudor Hall. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.Booth was quickly hired to play Richard III. In less than a year, Booth became the most prominent actor in the United States. Critic William Winter said, "He was followed as a marvel. Mention of his name stirred an enthusiasm no other could awaken" (Smith 23). He embarked upon a 30-year acting career that made him famous throughout the country. Booth traveled to Baltimore, Boston, and New York.A persistent story, but apocryphal according to some sources, is that Junius Brutus Booth was acclaimed for performing Orestes in the French language in New Orleans. Theatrical manager Noah Ludlow, who was performing with Booth at the time at the American theatre there, recounts the actual events starting on page 230 of his memoir Dramatic Life As I Found It and concludes: "Therefore, I consider the story of Mr. Booth having performed Orestes in the French language, on the French stage, altogether a mistake arising from his having acted that character in the Théâtre d'Orléans of New Orleans in 1822, but in the English language." However, Stephen M. Archer notes that Ludlow was in Mobile, Alabama, in 1828, so was not present for this performance. The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, has two playbills from the production and both are in French. Booth's daughter Asia wrote that her father spoke fluent French and cited a review on the subject. The review was not oblivious to the fact that Booth's French pronunciation was less than perfect, however. In 1823, Booth did the role in New York in the English adaptation by Ambrose Philips with Mary Ann Duff as Hermione.In 1825–1826 and 1836–1837, Booth made tours of his native England. He took his whole family with him for the second of these. During their stay in England, one of his children, Henry Byron, succumbed to smallpox. By 1831, he had become the manager of the Adelphi Theatre in Baltimore. His acclaim continued to grow throughout the rest of his life; Walt Whitman described him as "the grandest histrion of modern times." Although his relationship with Holmes, his supposed wife, was relatively happy, four of their children died, three in the same year (1833), when epidemics of cholera occurred. In addition, he suffered from alcoholism, which had an effect on the entire family.Booth's alcoholism also caused him to become increasingly unpredictable and reckless. He would drop lines, miss scenes, and cause chaos onstage. During a performance of Hamlet, Booth suddenly left the scene he was playing with Ophelia, scurried up a ladder, and perched up in the backdrops crowing like a rooster until his manager retrieved him. He was once booked for a sold-out performance in Richmond, then disappeared from town for several days. Eventually, he was found with "ragged, besotted wretches, the greatest actor on the American stage."Booth's alcoholism and violent nature often caused problems onstage during his performances. On several occasions, when he played the title character in Richard III, the actor playing the Earl of Richmond fled the stage when Booth became too aggressive during their dueling scene. One night, when Booth was appearing as Othello, the actress playing Desdemona had to be rescued by other cast members when Booth tried to genuinely suffocate her with a pillow.Booth soon became so unreliable that he had to be locked into his hotel rooms with a guard standing watch. Often, he would still find ways of escaping to drink at a nearby tavern. Once, when a theatre manager locked Booth in his dressing room before a performance, Booth bribed a stagehand to go out and buy a bottle of whiskey. As the stagehand stood outside the door, Booth stuck a drinking straw through the keyhole and sipped whiskey from the bottle.Booth's violent behavior offstage was notable as well. In Charleston, in 1838, Booth was so intoxicated that he attacked a friend, Tom Flynn, with a fireplace andiron. To defend himself, Flynn hit Booth in the face, breaking his nose and forever altering the actor's profile and voice.Some historians and critics have claimed that reality could become overwhelming for Booth, so he would flee into alcoholism and the roles he played. One critic said of Booth that the "personality of the actor was forgotten, and all the details seemed spontaneous workings and unconscious illustrations of the character he represented. He seemed to be possessed by the characters, losing his own identity." Such subjective judgments are perhaps too facile, as Edwin Booth's later comment about his father certainly was: "Great minds to madness closely are allied." In any case, from February 1817 onward, Junius Booth played almost 3,000 performances. Booth brought a romantic, natural acting style to America, which he pioneered in the hearts of American audiences.To help him maintain a modicum of stability and also to ensure that he sent his earnings home to the family, Junius and Mary Ann chose their son Edwin to accompany him as his dresser, aid, and guardian. This was an exhausting job because Junius Brutus could go without sleep for very long periods of time and would often disappear.In 1835, Booth wrote a letter to President Andrew Jackson, demanding he pardon two pirates. In the letter, he threatened to kill the President. Though there would also be an actual attempt of assassination on the President early that year, the letter was believed to be a hoax, until a handwriting analysis of a letter written some days after the threat concluded that the letter was, in fact, written by Booth. Booth apologized to Jackson, though since he and Jackson were friends, the "threat" likely was Booth's clumsy attempt at a joke. Decades later, Booth's son, John Wilkes, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.Later lifeIn 1852, Booth was involved in a tour of California with his sons Edwin and Junius Jr., performing in San Francisco and Sacramento, where torrential rains not only closed the theatres, but also seriously depleted food supplies. Inflation skyrocketed, and the Booths returned to San Francisco without having made a penny. On 1 October, he left San Francisco without either of his sons. (Junius Jr. had previously established his home there, and Edwin struck out on his own, acting in various venues in northern California.)Booth had told his first wife, at the time of his initial departure from England, that he would be touring the United States for several years, but would send her money to support her and his young son, Richard, but Booth's sister and brother-in-law later arrived with their children from England and demanded to be housed and supported in exchange for keeping quiet about his American family. After some years, this arrangement became financially untenable, and Booth stopped sending his wife money so regularly. This prompted Adelaide to send their son, now 25, to Baltimore. For three years, Booth somehow fooled him into believing that he lived alone, but eventually Richard discovered the truth. He sent word to his mother, who arrived in Baltimore in December 1846 and confronted Booth when he returned home from touring in March. After living the requisite three years in Maryland, she was able to divorce him in February 1851.On 10 May 1851, with the youngest of their 10 children now 11 years of age, Booth finally legally married Mary Ann Holmes.DeathWhile traveling by steamboat from New Orleans to Cincinnati in 1852, Booth developed a severe fever, presumably from drinking impure river water. No physician was on board, and he died aboard the steamboat near Louisville, Kentucky, on 30 November 1852. Booth's widow, Mary Ann, traveled to Cincinnati alone to claim his body.Booth is buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore. UgolinoBy Dave TaylorYesterday, April 20, marked the 188th anniversary of the debut of a new play on the American stage. Though practically forgotten today, the tragedy Ugolino debuted yesterday in 1825. The story is a dark one. The main character, Ugolino, is a passionate man who has lost all sense of reason due to his love for Angelica. When he finds that Angelica’s heart is desired by another man, the Marquis di Serassi, he kills this rival beau in a jealous rage. Overcome with madness, he slays his own beloved Angelica before regaining his senses. Ugolino, while clutching Angelica’s bleeding corpse to his chest, demands of the audience:“Was it not well done? Look here! She loved me… and I killed her!”While overwrought with his own grief and guilt, Ugolino is questioned by angry Venetians. “Accursed wretch,” they cry, “What moved thee to act?” Ugolino answers with:“What mov’d me to it? To murder him who sacrificed my peace?This was the crowning crime! This was Hell’s greatest triumph…Dost thou not know me? Tis DespairFrom the abyss of ever-burning Hell,Where on the footstool of the great fiend’s throne,I sit and form dark snares for wavering souls!” Ugolino, in his final scene of this bloody drama, steps forward, his sword upraised, ready to plunge the blade into his chest, and shrieks, “Come my bride…to Hell’s center! In my heart I plunge this reeking sword!” The play ends with Ugolino’s suicide.The original debut on April 20, 1825 was at Philadelphia’s Arch Street Theatre and was a benefit for Mr. Henry Wallack, with him and his wife playing Ugolino and Angelica.Of the play, one critic wrote:“Ugolino,” [is] one of the best productions of the modern stage, a work possessing great poetry of diction and nervousness of style… This play is published, easily accessible, and worthy a place in every library.” Though celebrated by some, Ugolino did not become a household name. From its initial April 20, 1825, debut onward, it was produced quite sparingly. In the years that followed, the actor John Randolph Scott seemed to be the only one who made it part of his repertoire.It was performed by Scott at the Bowery Theatre and Chatham Theatre in New York City. When J. R. Scott died in 1856, the play saw even less exposure.Therefore, when the young tragedian John Wilkes Booth decided to use Ugolino as his benefit piece for the end of his Boston Museum run in March of 1864, you can understand why this Boston Daily Evening reporter had never heard of it:John Wilkes was not the first Booth to perform in Ugolino. In December of 1849, Clementine DeBar Booth, the first wife of Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., performed the play alongside J. R. Scott at Howard’s Athenaeum in Boston.While John Wilkes did choose to perform Ugolino as a benefit due to a family connection, it was not this coincidental connection to his former sister-in-law. Rather, John Wilkes Booth decided to perform the little-known play Ugolino because of his connection to the playwright. Ugolino was written by his father, Junius Brutus Booth, Sr.Ugolino is believed to be the only play that Junius Brutus Booth, arguably the best tragedian of his generation, ever wrote. What’s more, I have yet to find any source saying that Junius performed in or even had a chance to see his own work on stage. When Wallack put it on as a benefit in Philadelphia in 1825, Junius was performing in Baltimore. When Junius’ friend J. R. Scott was reviving it in New York during September of 1834, Junius was himself busy performing elsewhere. If Junius had the chance to attend one of the rare dramatizations of his work, it does not appear to be documented.Despite the positive critiques of the play, I think it is safe to say that those reviewing Ugolino were more in awe of its creator than his product. In her book, My Thoughts Be Bloody, author Nora Titone describes Ugolino as a “blood bath”. Junius Brutus Booth’s biographer, Stephen Archer, stated that Ugolino, “was in the flamboyant tradition of the times,” but, “failed to win a lasting place on American stages.”Despite its violence and bloodshed however, Junius Brutus Booth’s masterpiece still contains some touchingly poetic lines:“Let us part,Since part we must, like brothers and like friends,Who bent on travel, thus dividing stray,As Fortune or as Fancy leads the way,Far off, yet not forgotten, though apart,Dwelling together in each other’s heart.” Though time robs us of experiencing Junius Brutus Booth’s true theatrical gifts firsthand, these few lines are a fitting self-epitaph to his effect on theatre history.
Price: 3500 USD
Location: Orange, California
End Time: 2025-01-10T03:41:27.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Artist: Illegible Signature
Signed By: Illegible Signature
Size: Medium
Signed: Yes
Period: Early 19th Century (1800-1830)
Title: "J.R. Scott as St. Pierre in The Wife"
Material: Paper, Goauche
Region of Origin: New York, USA
Framing: Framed
Subject: Actors, Community Life, Concerts, Costumes, Figures, Men, Musical Bands & Groups, New York, Silhouettes, States & Counties, Still Life, Working Life
Type: Painting
Year of Production: 1829
Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
Item Height: 18 in
Theme: Advertising, Americana, Art, Cities & Towns, Continents & Countries, Events & Festivals, Exhibitions, Famous Places, Fashion, History, Hobbies & Leisure, People, Portrait, Social History, Theater
Style: Americana, Figurative Art, Illustration Art, Portraiture
Features: One of a Kind (OOAK)
Production Technique: Gouache Painting
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Item Width: 11 3/4 in
Handmade: Yes
Time Period Produced: 1800-1849
