The First Actresses

Thanks to the UK Government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme, the National Portrait Gallery in London has recently acquired Daniel Gardner's The Three Witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth (1775), which depicts three of the glamour pusses of their day - Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne, and their friend sculptress Anne Seymour Damer - hamming it up in amateur dramatics (title link). There was quite a fad in those days for society hostesses to perform amateur dramatics to entertain their guests, and you often find portraits of Lady So-and-so "as" character in play. You'll have to wait until October to see this latest acquisition, when it is displayed in The First Actresses: Nell Gwyn to Sarah Siddons (CLICK).