Two prints of Astley's Amphitheatre
Datecirca 1784
MediumInk on paper, etching
DimensionsHEIGHT: 11 3/4 × 8 3/4 in. (29.8 × 22.2 cm)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineTibbals Circus Collection
Object numberht8000729
These two late 18th century prints are mounted together on one page. At the top, the image suggests the transition from traditional riding displays of the era, where riders performed atop horses moving in straight lines up and down a track to the circular displays made possible by the performance ring.
In the lower image is an etching of Astley’s Royal Grove Theatre which opened around 1784. This theater incorporated a stage and a performance ring and was Astley’s response to the competition posed by The Royal Circus establishment opened by Charles Dibdin. The interior of Astley’s Grove Theatre was painted to look like a pastoral scene, as though the audience was watching the performances within a stand of trees. The theater burned to the ground in 1794, undaunted, the showman opened Astley’s Royal Amphitheatre, under the patronage of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York, that same year.
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