Wikipedia

Rose Emma Drummond

Rose Emma Drummond (c. 1790-1840) was a British portrait miniaturist who is known for her works of theatre actresses. She was active between active 1815 and 1837.[1] She was also the inspiration for Miss La Creevy in the Charles Dickens novel Nicholas Nickleby.

Rose Emma Drummond
Died1840
Mexico City, Mexico
NationalityBritish
Known forPortrait miniatures of theatre actresses and writers
ElectedRoyal Academy of the Arts

Early life

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Engraving of Frances Allsop, after an original painting by Drummond, held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London

Her parents were the artist Samuel Drummond[1] and his first wife.[2] Her half-sisters Ellen Drummond, Eliza Ann Drummond, Jane Drummond and Rosa Myra Drummond and her half brothers Julian Drummond and Philip Maurice Drummond, from her father's second and third marriages, all also became artists.[2]

Career

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Drummond is most known for her portrait miniature work and painting theatre actresses, with her famous sitters including Elizabeth Walker Blanchard,[2][3] Louisa Chatterley,[4] Clara Fisher, Elizabeth Inchbald,[5] Henrietta Mangeon, Jane Pope,[6] Harriet Smithson,[7] Mary Tighe,[8] Ellen Tree, Emma Wensley and Anne Wignell.[9] Her sitters were sometimes dressed as their characters. She also painted Hannah Thatcher, who was "a young lady born deaf and dumb who was presented to Her late Majesty on acquiring the faculty of speech, and the sense of hearing".[10]

She was an Associate of the Royal Academy of Arts and exhibited there throughout her career.[11] Drummond also exhibited at the New Water-Colour Society between 1831 and 1835.[12]

She is also considered the inspiration for the character Miss La Creevy, the middle-aged miniature painter in the 1838 novel Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens.[13] In 1835 she had painted his likeness on ivory as an engagement present from him to Catherine Hogarth,[14][15] with "Painted by Rose Emma Drummond, 8 Soho Square, 9th July 1835" engraved on the back.[16] Drummond was portrayed by Nora Nicholson in the 1970 BBC 2 film The Great Inimitable Mr Dickens.[17]

Late life and death

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Drummond emigrated to Mexico in the late 1830s to live with her younger brother Samuel Drummond. She died in Mexico City in 1840.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b Rintoul, M. C. (5 March 2014). Dictionary of Real People and Places in Fiction. Routledge. p. 377. ISBN 978-1-136-11940-8.
  2. ^ a b c d "Mrs Pointer and the Drummond Family". www.photohistory-sussex.co.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  3. ^ Bogar, Thomas A. (11 December 2017). Thomas Hamblin and the Bowery Theatre: The New York Reign of "Blood and Thunder" Melodramas. Springer. p. 12. ISBN 978-3-319-68406-2.
  4. ^ "CollectionsOnline | G0112". garrick.ssl.co.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  5. ^ Jenkins, Annibel (14 December 2021). I'll Tell You What: The Life of Elizabeth Inchbald. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-9393-9.
  6. ^ "After Drummond, Rose Emma (fl.1815-1837) - Miss Jane Pope". www.rct.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  7. ^ Raby, Peter (11 December 2003). Fair Ophelia: A Life of Harriet Smithson Berlioz. Cambridge University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-521-54580-8.
  8. ^ "Portrait of Mary Tighe (1772-1810), Poet". onlinecollection.nationalgallery.ie. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  9. ^ Highfill, Philip H.; Burnim, Kalman A.; Langhans, Edward A. (1993). A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800. SIU Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-8093-1803-2.
  10. ^ Spies-Gans, Paris A. (2022). A Revolution on Canvas: The Rise of Women Artists in London and Paris, 1760-1830. Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. ISBN 978-1-913107-29-1.
  11. ^ Royal Academy of Arts (1822). The Exhibition of the Royal Academy. William Bunce, printer to the Royal Academy. p. 27.
  12. ^ Stewart, Brian (1996). The dictionary of British portrait painters : up to 1920. Internet Archive. Woodbridge, Suffolk : Antique Collectors' Club. p. 276. ISBN 978-1-85149-173-5.
  13. ^ Kitton, Frederic George (2004). The Life of Charles Dickens: His Life, Writings, and Personality. Lexden Publishing Limited. p. 437. ISBN 978-1-904995-02-9.
  14. ^ Harris, Elree I.; Scott, Shirley R. (26 November 2013). A Gallery of Her Own: An Annotated Bibliography of Women in Victorian Painting. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-49441-4.
  15. ^ Kaplan, Fred (23 April 2013). Dickens: A Biography. Open Road Media. p. 1802. ISBN 978-1-4804-0979-8.
  16. ^ Nayder, Lillian (2011). The Other Dickens: A Life of Catherine Hogarth. Cornell University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-8014-4787-7.
  17. ^ "The Great Inimitable Mr Dickens". BBC Programme Index. 2 June 1970. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
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