H. B. Irving's Hand
Paul Raphael Montford
Category
Furniture
Date
Unknown
Materials
Plaster of paris
Measurements
285 x 185 x 145 mm
Order this imageCollection
Greys Court, Oxfordshire
NT 195547.1
Summary
Plaster cast of the right hand of H. B. Irving's in a glass display case which is wall mounted. inscribed on card in case as 'H B Irving's Hand, by Paul Raphael Montford R.B.A.' Used as a prop in the production of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, where H. B. Irving played the two main roles.
Full description
Plaster cast of the right hand of H. B. Irving's in a glass display case which is wall mounted. inscribed on card in case as 'H B Irving's Hand, by Paul Raphael Montford R.B.A.' Used as a prop in the production of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, where H. B. Irving played the two main roles. H. B. Irving was the eldest son of Sir Henry Irving and his wife Elizabeth Irving. He attended both Marlborough College and later New College, Oxford studying law, but rather than following his first career choice as a barrister, he decided to become an actor, taking the stage name H. B. Irving to distinguish him from his father. Inevitably, his early years as an actor were spent in the shadow of his father, especially as, at first, he was a member of Sir Henry Irving's Company. Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was dramatized by Campbell Stratton as a four-act play in 1904. Comyns Carr wrote another adaptation in 1910 with H. B. Irving playing Jekyll and his wife, Dorothea Baird Mrs. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde opened at the Queen's Theatre, London, in January, 1910. It was one of the most successful productions that was taken on by H. B. Irving with the theatre company he established after his father's death. Undoubtedly a talented performer, he suffered from being the son of England's most famous actor - even after his father's death, feeling obligated to put on cut-price versions of the lavishly produced originals. During World War I, he withdrew from the theatre and returned to the law, writing the study for which he is now most famous - Book of Remarkable Criminals that examined the lives, motivations and crimes of some infamous murderers. And there's the rub. After spending twenty years of his life dedicated to the theatre, his greatest success came from being what it was intended he should be - a legal expert. Paul Raphael Montford (P. R. Montford, 1868-1938) studied at the Royal Academy schools and was considered a brilliant student, having been taught modeling by his father who was also a sculptor. He won the gold medal and travelling scholarship in 1891 and for many years after was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy exhibitions. Montford refused to be influenced by the modernist school and was convinced it was a passing phase in art. The Greeks and the great Italians of the Renaissance appealed to him most. He was a sculptor of ability whose work showed good modeling, grace, careful arrangement, and vigour, as the occasion demanded.
Provenance
Gifted to the National Trust from the Estate of Lady Elizabeth Brunner, 2005.
Makers and roles
Paul Raphael Montford, artist