Miss Younge, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Love, and Mr. Waldron, in the Characters of Viola, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4)

Miss Younge, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Love, and Mr. Waldron, in the Characters of Viola, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4)

John Raphael Smith

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Four eighteenth-century actors appear here in the duel scene of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." Elizabeth Younge portrays Viola (disguised as the page Cesario), timorously holding a sword while urged to fight by Francis Waldron in character as Fabian. Her opponent Sir Andrew Aguecheek (portrayed by James Dodd), draws his weapon with equal reluctance, encouraged by Sir Toby Belch (portrayed by James Dance, whose stage name was James Love). In December 1771 actor-manager David Garrick revived the play at the Covent Garden Theatre, and these actors were all his protégés.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Miss Younge, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Love, and Mr. Waldron, in the Characters of Viola, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4)Miss Younge, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Love, and Mr. Waldron, in the Characters of Viola, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4)Miss Younge, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Love, and Mr. Waldron, in the Characters of Viola, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4)Miss Younge, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Love, and Mr. Waldron, in the Characters of Viola, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4)Miss Younge, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Love, and Mr. Waldron, in the Characters of Viola, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.