Sir Thomas Lawrence

John Philip Kemble as Hamlet

1801

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Walk Through British Art: 1780

Free entry

Artist: Sir Thomas Lawrence 1769–1830
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 3061 × 1981 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by King William IV 1836
Reference: N00142

Display caption

Kemble was one of the most successful English actors of his time. This painting shows him in the starring role of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It was one of four large canvases that Lawrence painted of Kemble in various dramatic roles.
All four works were exhibited at the Royal Academy. Their size meant that they could be been seen above the heads of the crowd. This was a strategy often used by artists to make sure they gained the attention of the press.

Gallery label, July 2019

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Explore

architecture(41,336)
- townscapes / man-made features(21,710)
- - graveyard(209)
literature and fiction(3,157)
- characters(457)
- - Hamlet(7)
- Shakespeare(138)
- - ‘Hamlet’(16)
nature(45,212)
- times of the day(1,839)
- - night(683)
objects(23,376)
- clothing and personal items(5,986)
- - cloak(193)
people(35,142)
- actions: postures and motions(9,219)
- - standing(3,207)
- adults(22,735)
- - man(10,497)
- body(4,943)
- - skull(92)
- named individuals(12,534)
- - Kemble, John Philip(3)
- portraits(4,471)
- - individuals: male(1,965)
society(34,905)
- dress: fantasy/fancy(407)
- - theatrical costume(22)
work and occupations(14,165)
- arts and entertainment(6,587)
- - actor(266)

You might like

Sir Thomas Lawrence Mrs Siddons, ? as Mrs Haller in ‘The Stranger’

c.1796–8
Sir Thomas Lawrence Philip Sansom

c.1805–10
Sir Thomas Lawrence Mrs Siddons

1804
Sir Thomas Lawrence Miss Laura Dorothea Ross (Mrs Francis Robertson)

c.1798–1804
Sir Thomas Lawrence Lady Georgiana Fane

?1806
Sir Thomas Lawrence Princess Lieven

?1812–20
Sir Thomas Lawrence The Countess of Darnley

c.1825–30
Sir Thomas Lawrence Homer Reciting his Poems

1790

On display at Tate Britain part of Walk Through British Art
John Hoppner William Smith the Actor

c.1788
George Dawe Imogen Found in the Cave of Belarius

exhibited 1809
Richard Westall Philip Sansom, Jun., as a Child

date not known
Sir Thomas Lawrence Philadelphia Hannah, 1st Viscountess Cremorne

exhibited 1789
Attributed to Richard Cosway A Lady (? Harriet Mellon) as a Sibyl

c.1805
John Opie Portrait of a Lady in the Character of Cressida

exhibited 1800
Benjamin Marshall James Belcher, Bare-Knuckle Champion of England

?1803