John Opie’s Portrait of Charles Macklin and the Shakespeare Gallery

Abstract

JohnOpie’s portrait of CharlesMacklin (ca. 1699–1797) is one of themore technically accomplished likenesses of the celebrated actor-playwright. It was the work of a painter hailed as “the English Rembrandt”; there was hyperbole in that soubriquet, but Opie (1761–1807) was certainly among the more talented British portraitists of his day, and his skills are evident in his rendering of Macklin. The portrait is furthermore notable for depicting Macklin doing something other than acting. Visual artists had typically portrayed Macklin, like most actors, in character, costumed and suspended at amoment within a drama.Macklin was generally shown as Shylock, the role for which he was renowned—this was