Coriolanus in the Tragedy of Coriolanus, Georgian Stage Costume, Jefferys 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1757, colored by hand, lettered "Habit of Coriolanus in the Tragedy of Coriolanus." Coriolanus stands in profile to the viewer's left, crowned with a green laurel wreath, one arm flung out in a declamatory gesture. He wears a scarlet tunic worked with white scrolls, a breastplate with a mask at the chest, a red sash across his body and another at his waist, and a sword at his side. A heavy cloak lined with gray fur and faced in crimson spreads behind him to the ground. Loose breeches and gray boots topped with fur finish the figure.

The English title is engraved in script below the image: "Habit of Coriolanus in the Tragedy of Coriolanus." Beneath it, in smaller italic letters, is the French caption "Coriolan dans la Tragedie de Coriolan.", meaning "Coriolanus in the tragedy of Coriolanus". The plate number 230 is engraved at lower right. No engraver or artist is named on the plate.

The plate comes from the second volume of Thomas Jefferys' A Collection of the Dresses of Different Nations, Antient and Modern, published in London in 1757 by Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in the Strand. The work has a parallel French title page, Recueil des Habillements de Différentes Nations, which is why each plate is captioned in both languages. The later plates of the volume form a series titled The Habits of the Principal Characters on the English Stage, recording how leading parts were dressed in the London theaters of the period. The costume shows how the Georgian theater imagined ancient Rome, mixing armor and laurel with fur and fancy dress. Shakespeare's tragedy and James Thomson's Coriolanus of 1749 were both played in London in these years; the caption does not say which.

The bold red and gray make this a dramatic picture for a library or a room hung with theater prints.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.