{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1259701"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1259701/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GP9994/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GP9994/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GP9994","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1259701","accessionNumber":"S.87-2013","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Miss Stephens of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Born in London on the 18th September 1794, the soprano Catherine Stephens studied singing   for five years from the age of thirteen with the London-based Italian musician Gesualdo Lanza, during which  time she sang in Bristol, Bath, Southampton, Ramsgate and Margate, and  appeared in subordinate parts with an Italian opera company based at London’s Pantheon. From 1813 she studied with the singing master  Thomas Welsh and first appeared at Covent  Garden that September as Mandane in Thomas Arne’s opera  <i>Artaxerxes. </i>Success in that role was followed in October by the role of Polly in John Gay’s <i>The Beggar’s Opera</i> and in  November as Clara in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s comic opera <i>The Duenna </i><i>.</i>\r\n\r\nCatherine Stephens stayed at Covent Garden until 1822 singing a variety of roles including  Susana to John Liston’s Figaro in Henry Rowley Bishop's 1819 adaptation of Mozart's<i> The Marriage of Figaro</i>, and Rowena in an adaptation of <i>Ivanhoe</i> in March 1820. Miss Stephens joined Elliston’s company at  Drury Lane in 1822, singing leading roles there for the next five years, and frequently starring in concerts and  festivals. She retired in 1835 and on 19th  April 1838 married the octogenarian widower George Capel- Coningsby. He died the following  April and she survived him by forty-three years, dying in their house at 9,  Belgrave Square on  22nd February 1882.\r\n\r\nThis portrait appeared in no.178 of <i>La Belle Assemblée, or Bell's Court and  Fashionable Magazine</i>, the magazine first published in 1806 by the successful  London printer John Bell (1745- 1831), who owned several other magazines. <i>La  Belle Assemblée</i> was primarily a women's  magazine with fashion plates, celebrity  profiles, sheet music, poetry, fiction, news items and some scientific articles. Its first fashion plates from February 1806 were not coloured, but from November 1806 it came out in two forms, uncoloured at 2s 6d or hand-coloured at 3s 6d,  illustrating outfits worn by ladies of rank as well as the latest styles. It was  printed monthly  for people to compile into volumes, and rather confusingly its  illustrations were dated a month  ahead. This portrait of Miss Stephens is dated 1st September 1823.","physicalDescription":"Half-length engraved portrait of Catherine Stephens, seated on an upright chair in front of a bowl of flowers, looking to her right, her left arm behind the top rail of the chair, her left hand resting on it","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"John Peter Thompson","id":"A25321"},"association":{"text":"engraver","id":"x30813"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Wageman, Thomas Charles","id":"A5109"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Bell, John","id":"A27650"},"association":{"text":"editor","id":"AAT25526"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"La Belle Assemblée","id":"A27129"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"x32600"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"print-making","id":"AAT131119"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Engraving, printed ink on paper ","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2013GP9994"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES356514"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":"AAT41273"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1st September 1823","earliest":"1823-09-01","latest":"1823-09-01"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"S.89-2013","id":"O1259710"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.159-1997","id":"O1138600"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.1052-2009","id":"O184328"},"association":"Object"},{"object":{"text":"S.89-2013","id":"O1259710"},"association":"Object"}],"creditLine":"Harry R. Beard Collection, given by Isobel Beard","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"23.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"14.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Print depicting Catherine Stephens, later the Countess of Essex (1794-1882). Engraved by J. Thompson from a drawing by Wageman. Published in London for <i>La Belle Assembleé</i> on 1st September 1823. Harry Beard Collection","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Miss Stephens","id":"N9578"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[{"text":"","id":""}],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.87-2013"],"accessionNumberNum":"87","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2013,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2013-01-10","availableToBook":true}}