Eileen Watson
Imogen
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Victoria and Albert Museum
London, United Kingdom
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- 7 days ago
- In this state since
- Sep 25, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the painting
Ethel Carrington (1889-1962) is shown in a costume designed by Herbert Norris for Imogen in Shakespeare's Cymbeline,which she performed during the Shakespeare Summer Festival at the Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon in August 1922. The reviewer of The Birmingham Post, 3 August 1922, noted that, whether as Imogen the girl or disguised as the youth Fidele: 'Miss Ethel Carrington caught the ethereal radiance of this lovely character - the radiance was perhaps a little too pallid, for as Fidele she looked like some Sir Galahad from a window by Burne-Jones with earnest, wistful eyes shadowed by heavy red-gold hair.'
Read on
Ethel Carrington, born Ethel McDowall, trained at Kate Rorke's School of Acting at the Guildhall and made her first London appearance as Vere Herbert in Henry Hamilton's Moths at the King's Theatre Hammersmith, on 14 October 1907. In 1911 she played Juliet with Frank Benson's Company at Stratford to Murray Carrington's Romeo. They were both members of Benson's Company for several years and during this time they married, but the marriage was later dissolved.
The artist Eileen Watson was also in Benson's Company at Stratford in 1922 and appeared in the role of a Boy in Sheridan's The Rivals. As a young actress she was apparently a fan of Ethel Carrington and painted this portrait, which she presented to her.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- S.874-2011
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 7 days ago
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
