A photograph, hand-coloured in watercolour, of a group of actors performing in Richard II. On the left, in profile, John Ryder as Bolingbroke is seated on a gold-painted throne on a carpeted pedestal. He wears a royal blue cloak with an ermine collar over a red tunic, a gold chain of office, and an elaborate gold crown. He is surrounded by four boys: two sit at his feet, the other two stand beside and in front of him. All four children wear matching outfits: a cream tunic with gold embroidery, a pale blue collar with a zig-zag hem, a blue hat, white stockings, and one blue and one white shoe. In the background stands a bishop in mitre and gold robe, holding a crosier. On the right stands a soldier in plate armour and a chainmail hood.

Mr Ryder as Henry IV surrounded by his sons

Martin Laroche (1814-1886)

1857

Hand coloured albumen print

22.5 x 18.3 cm

RCIN 2909987

Image credit: Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021

This photograph shows a group of actors in costume for the final scene of Richard II, in which Richard's body is brought to Windsor Castle and shown to the new king, Henry IV.

John Ryder plays Henry IV (known in the play as Bolingbroke), richly costumed at the centre of the image. He is surrounded by young actors playing the king's children, in matching blue and white outfits. There are no lines attributed to Henry IV's children in this scene, but their presence serves to signal this play's connection to the more popular Henry IV plays, and perhaps to flatter the reproductive abundance of the contemporary royal family.

Martin Laroche had a photography studio on Oxford Street eight doors down from the Princess’s Theatre, and he regularly collaborated with Charles Kean to produce portraits of the company in costume. This albumen print, carefully hand-coloured in watercolour, was one of a set given to Queen Victoria for Christmas by Prince Albert in 1857.

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Sketch showing costumes for the final scene of Richard II

Thomas Grieve (1799-1882)

1857

Tableau-from-final-scene-Richard-II

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