Imoinda in the Tragedy of Oroonoko, Back View, Georgian Stage, Jefferys 1757

This is an original antique copper engraving from 1757, colored by hand, lettered "Habit of Imoinda, in the Tragedy of Oroonoko." Imoinda is seen here from behind. A small white cap with a dark aigrette sits on her dark hair, a ruffled collar circles her neck, and a long white veil falls straight down her back. Her rose pink gown has elbow sleeves with white ruffles, and a white scarf held in one hand at the viewer's left loops down and is caught up in swags around the full skirt. A cast shadow falls to the viewer's left.

The English title is engraved in script below the image: "Habit of Imoinda, in the Tragedy of Oroonoko." Beneath it, in smaller italic letters, is the French caption "Imoinda dans la Tragédie d'Oroonoko.", meaning "Imoinda in the tragedy of Oroonoko". The plate number 236 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. Oroonoko, Thomas Southerne's tragedy of 1695 based on Aphra Behn's novel, stayed in the London repertory through the eighteenth century, and Imoinda is its heroine. The preceding plate shows Imoinda from the front in a different gown.

Shown with the front view of Imoinda from the same series, the plate makes an attractive pair.

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