Isaac and Ede Antique Prints
Zoffany Mr King and Mrs Baddeley

Richard Earlom after Johann Zoffany.

Mr. King and Mrs. Baddeley in the Characters of Lord Ogleby and Miss Fanny Sterling.

28 x 25".

At a command performance of The Clandestine Marriage on 24th October 1771, the king was so delighted by Miss Baddeley's coyness in the scene depicted here that he requested Zoffany to paint her in character. In this scene Mr. Baddeley has encouraged Lord Ogleby to make love to his wife; it was alleged that the Baddeleys were on such bad terms that they never uttered a word to each other. She was reputed to have had numerous affairs which were tolerated by her husband, himself a philanderer. The painting is now hanging in the Garrick Club. The mezzotint engraving is the only theatrical print produced by Richard Earlom, the most eminent mezzotint engraver of his generation. The play was written by Garrick and first performed at Drury Lane in 1766. Unfortunately the relationship between Garrick and the actress soured with a dispute over pay. Miss Baddeley left the stage in high dudgeon and did not perform again for two years. In a letter to his rival theatre manager, Samuel Foote, Garrick admonishes him for giving Miss Baddeley airs above her station: You have so puff'd up that Lady's vanity by ye great compliment you made her in the Maid of Bath, that she has sent us word that unless we will give her three pounds a week more than she is articled... she would not come to her business.

£1200

Framed
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