Mrs Cibber in the Character of Cordelia

Van Bleeck’s last known engraving and not in his more usual earlier style. The image is reversed from his own painting, and the plate was later re-worked to remove a strip at the left of the image. Interestingly the painting too was cut down in a similar way. According to the Lennox-Boyd catalogue all third and fourth state impressions were printed on wove, thus dating them to the later 18th century, however, this impression is on fine laid paper, suggesting that the third state was printed over a long period. Mrs Cibber was already forty at the time Van Bleeck painted her in this youthful role, one she went on to play for some years further. She was the sister of Thomas Arne, composer of Rule Britannia.