File:Mary Ann Yates Cotes.jpg
Mary_Ann_Yates_Cotes.jpg (457 × 600 pixels, file size: 67 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
Captions
Captions
Summary
[edit]Samuel Cotes: Mary Ann Yates as Electra in Voltaire's Orestes
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Artist |
artist QS:P170,Q7411168 |
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Title |
Mary Ann Yates as Electra in Voltaire's Orestes |
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Object type |
painting object_type QS:P31,Q3305213 |
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Description |
English: Portrait of Mary Anne Yates (1728–1787), English tragic actress, as Electra in Orestes by Voltaire, chained at the wrist, wearing a pink and blue dress and an ornate powdered grey wig, holding aloft the urn which is pivotal to the story. This portrait is of the famous tragic actress Mrs Yates in the role of Electra from Voltaire's play Orestes. But although it is a portrait of an actress in a given role, it also emulates the grand society portraits of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the founding President of the Royal Academy in London. Reynolds had pragmatically incorporated his enthusiasm for the Old Masters and classical antiquity into his portraits. Dressing a sitter as a mythological character was common practice on the European Continent, but Reynolds imbued this play-acting with a greater sense of drama, often posing his figures in quotations of poses from classical statues or the Old Masters. When Cotes exhibited this miniature in 1769 he knew it would be seen in the same room as Reynolds's oil paintings. Spurred on by a sense of competition, he clearly hoped to demonstrate in this large work his ability for invention and his virtuosity. Until this time Cotes had always painted exquisite miniatures no bigger than one inch (2.5 cm) high, showing only the head and shoulders of a sitter. This extensive area of ivory has clearly presented Cotes with problems in terms of large areas of surface on which the paint seems dull, and in terms of composition, which seems somewhat stilted. |
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Date |
1769 date QS:P571,+1769-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 |
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Medium |
watercolor on ivory medium QS:P186,Q22915256;P186,Q82001,P518,Q861259 |
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Dimensions |
height: 15.2 cm (5.9 in); width: 12.7 cm (5 in) dimensions QS:P2048,15.2U174728 dimensions QS:P2049,12.7U174728 |
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Collection |
institution QS:P195,Q213322 |
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Accession number |
P.1-1951 |
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Object history | Purchased with funds from the Graham Robertson Gift and the R. H. Stephenson Bequest | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Source/Photographer | https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72540/mary-ann-yates-as-electra-portrait-miniature-cotes-samuel/ |
Licensing
[edit]
This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details. |
File history
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Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
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current | 11:09, 24 March 2013 | ![]() | 457 × 600 (67 KB) | Charles Matthews (talk | contribs) | {{Information |Description ={{en|1=Portrait of Mary Anne Yates (1728–1787), English tragic actress, as Electra in ''Orestes'' by Voltaire.}} |Source =http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72540/mary-ann-yates-as-electra-... |
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File usage on Commons
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File usage on other wikis
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- Usage on en.wikipedia.org
- Usage on fr.wikipedia.org
- Usage on he.wikipedia.org
- Samuel Cotes
- Mary Ann Yates
- 18th-century portrait miniatures in the Victoria and Albert Museum
- 1760s paintings in the United Kingdom
- 1760s portrait paintings from Great Britain (female)
- 1769 portrait paintings of women
- 18th-century oval portrait miniatures of standing women at three-quarter length
- 18th-century theatre costumes
- 1760s watercolor portraits of women
- Works by Voltaire
- Portrait paintings of actresses in theatrical costumes
- Portrait paintings of standing women with left hand holding objects