3-071-185 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches at the Lyceum: "The Cup" - Miss Ellen Terry as Camma, 1881. London stage production. 'No greater proof could be found, perhaps, of the firm hold obtained by the existing programme at the Lyceum on the public favour than the fact that the audiences at the theatre under the management of Mr. Henry Irving showed, even at the acutest period of the recent Great Frost, fewer signs of diminution than were visible at any other place of entertainment in the metropolis...In further illustration of the leading characters in Mr. Tennyson's drama, the artist gives us a full-length portrait study of...the irresistibly fascinating Miss Ellen Terry as Camma. The abounding grace and delicacy of this gifted young lady in the gauzy robes, which, so to speak, undulate and swim like clouds around her form, have been aptly seized by the draughtsman; but no artist, I fancy, could with perfect adequacy portray the astonishing mobility of Miss Terry's gestures and expression, both in facial variety and the continuous change of play in the action of her lithe limbs...the modern artist may deem himself fortunate if he can catch successfully even one of the moods of Miss Ellen Terry as Camma - moods as eloquent and as artistic as they are changeful'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.