Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Famed Shakespearean actor Ellen Terry (1847–1928) played the role of Lady Macbeth in Henry Irving’s production at the London Lyceum beginning in December 1888. Sargent admired her performance and costume and convinced her to pose for him. He shows Terry placing a crown on her head after the murder of Duncan, the Scottish king. The incident does not occur in Shakespeare’s text, nor was it a part of the performance. Sargent, however, sought a dramatic motif to make his portrait convincing, both as the personification of a role and as the characterization of an individual actor. Terry’s intense and powerful gaze enhances this climactic moment.
Alice Comyns Carr, a close friend of the artist, designed Terry’s spectacular costume, using green silk and blue tinsel adorned with thousands of beetle wings to make the actor look like a serpent. Sargent captured the iridescent effect with impressionistic dabs of pigment.
Alice Comyns Carr, a close friend of the artist, designed Terry’s spectacular costume, using green silk and blue tinsel adorned with thousands of beetle wings to make the actor look like a serpent. Sargent captured the iridescent effect with impressionistic dabs of pigment.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth
- Artist: John Singer Sargent (American, Florence 1856–1925 London)
- Date: 1889
- Culture: American
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 87 × 45 in. (221 × 114.3 cm)
Framed: 98 7/16 × 56 7/16 × 4 1/8 in. (250 × 143.4 × 10.5 cm) - Credit Line: Tate: Presented by Sir Joseph Duveen 1906
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing