IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
Artist
Shakespeare Wood, 1827 - 1886
Sitter
Charlotte Saunders Cushman, 23 Jul 1816 - 17 Feb 1876
Date
1853
Type
Sculpture
Medium
Marble
Dimensions
With Base: 46.4 × 26 × 16.5 cm (18 1/4 × 10 1/4 × 6 1/2")
Without Base: 44.5 × 26.7 × 16.5 cm (17 1/2 × 10 1/2 × 6 1/2")
Topic
Charlotte Saunders Cushman: Female
Charlotte Saunders Cushman: Performing Arts\Performer\Actor\Stage actor
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of William and Abigail Gerdts
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.2017.118
Exhibition Label
Born Boston, Massachusetts
Charlotte Cushman was one of the most celebrated actors of the nineteenth century. After her initial successes in the late 1830s in New York City and Boston, she won great acclaim in England, often playing male as well as female roles. By the early 1850s she had shifted between “retirement” in Rome and regular returns to the stage. Socially prominent in her circle of expatriate artistic friends, she lived as a lesbian and had a long romantic relationship with sculptor Emma Stebbins. Cushman was living in Rome when English sculptor Shakespeare Wood carved her portrait in marble.
Nacida en Boston, Massachusetts
Charlotte Cushman fue una de las actrices más celebradas del siglo XIX. Luego de sus primeros triunfos a fines de la década de 1830 en Nueva York y Boston, fue muy aclamada en Inglaterra, lo mismo en papeles femeninos que masculinos. A principios de 1850 empezó a alternar sus actuaciones con períodos de “retiro” en Roma. Figura prominente entre su círculo de amistades artistas expatriadas, vivió abiertamente como lesbiana y mantuvo una larga relación romántica con la escultora Emma Stebbins. Estaba en Roma cuando el escultor inglés Shakespeare Wood hizo su retrato en mármol.
