Iconography

The recorded portraiture of John Mitchell Kemble extends from an appearance in a portrait of his mother, when he was about five years old, to a photograph of him on his deathbed, which was the source of the marble bust by Woolner (used as the logo for this website). Should anyone be aware of other images of Kemble, not listed here, please inform SDK.

	I.  Portrait of Maria-Theresa Kemble (1777-1838), actress, wife of Charles Kemble, actor, with two of her three children, presumably Fanny (b. 1809, actress, reaching over her mother's shoulder) and John (b. 1807, Anglo-Saxonist, standing at her side). Attributed to George Henry Harlow (1787-1819), who was a friend of the Kemble family. Presumably painted  c. 1812. 57 x 44  in. The portrait was offered at Sotheby's, 13 July 1988, lot 54, unsold.  Sold at  Sotheby's, 28 February 1990, lot 255.  Present location unknown.
	II. Drawing of Kemble in the possession of his mother: see F. Kemble, Record of a Girlhood, II, pp. 293-4.  The drawing is perhaps still in the family's possession; and it may be one or other of the images registered below.
	III. Drawing of Kemble, facing left, by Richard James Lane.  For Richard James Lane (1800-72), lithographer and sculptor, see the entry on him in the ODNB (2004).  A lithograph (17 x 14 in.) published in 1841 shows the busts of Charles Kemble and his four children John, Henry, Adelaide and Fanny.  The busts are reproduced as a group in C. M. Duncan-Jones, Miss Mitford and Mr Harness: Records of a Friendship (London, 1955), opp. p. 39.  The bust of John Mitchell Kemble is reproduced in Frances M. Brookfield, The Cambridge “Apostles” (London, 1906), opp. p. 160.
	IV Drawing of Kemble ‘by Lady Eastlake’.  For Elizabeth [Rigby], Lady Eastlake (1809-93), see the entry on her in the ODNB (2004).  According to the original DNB, this drawing belonged at that time (1891) to the Rev. C. E. Donne.  It is perhaps still in the family’s possession.
	V. Cabinet photograph, reproducing a sketch of Kemble ‘by poor Savile Morton’, seated at a desk, facing left, reading a book (probably in the early 1830s when Kemble was still in Cambridge). The sketch itself is perhaps still in the family's possession.  Reproduced in William Bodham Donne and his Friends, ed. Catherine B. Johnson (London, 1905), opp. p. 27. Savile Morton (1811-52) was at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the early 1830s, where he became an 'Apostle'. He made his name thereafter as a journalist on the continent, and as a philanderer; in 1852 he was murdered by a jealous rival in Paris (ODNB). The cabinet photograph (given to SDK by Miss Mary Barham Johnson) was made in Faversham, Kent, and was presumably commissioned (in the 1870s?) by Rev. C. E. Donne, son of W. B. Donne, and Kemble's son-in-law, who was vicar of Faversham.
	VI. Double portrait medallion of Kemble with his wife, said to be by ‘H. Lane’ (recte R. J. Lane?), mentioned in the article on Kemble in the ODNB (2004).
	VII. Photograph of John Mitchell Kemble on his deathbed, Dublin, March 1857 (Kemble archive).  From the original lent to SDK by Mary Barham Johnson in the 1980s (and presumably still in the family’s possession). This photograph was used by Thomas Woolner for his bust of Kemble (now in Trinity College, Cambridge).