Lewis Waller signed miniature.

A better look at the 3 inch high watercolour portrait of the C.1900 actor Lewis Waller, which appears to be signed in ink, presumably autographed. The gilt brass frame has a simple back strut.

 

Love it!

Although the frame seems skewed when standing.

I wonder what type of print it is? Or could it possibly be a drawing?

 

In my opinion it is an original watercolour. I tried to angle it to avoid reflections from the glass.

 

Oh, had not thought of that.

 

Looks like his signature, there are quite a few of them online to compare, very nice ! Have you taken it out of the frame ?

 

It is painted on a a piece of card cut from a divided back postcard which dates it to after 1907.

 

Very nice!

 

Thats a flattering portrait,if the photos I looked at of him are any indication !

 

That's a wonderful painting.....

 

Cool if it is an original but, alas, it may be a printed mass-produced "art" postcard that was cut to fit the frame.

 

Not, I think, with the position of the subject relative to the back of the card.

 

I thought about that, too, but even with the orientation, I think it's likely a printed postcard.

It's hard to tell in the photos, but looks like it may be a chromolithograph, which would be correct for a postcard of that era. You may know this already, but... if under magnification you see irregular dots, it's a chromo.

Also, whether it's an original or a print, it doesn't look like a watercolor to me, but a drawing.

 

I have been thinking pastels for a while. I have it in hand and it is not a chromo.

 

If it isn't a chromo, there were other photographic processes used that produced continuous-tone images, so the lack of dots doesn't rule out the possibility it's a print.

This page (from a great postcard info resource) describes other possible processes...
http://www.metropostcard.com/glossaryp.html

My thoughts are that (1) if it were an original drawing, I don't think the signature would look the way it does, (2) it looks like the drawing may have been done on a textured surface originally (not sure about that, though... hard to tell online), and (3) if it were an original, I think the signature would be the artist's name and not the subject's.

My $.02, anyway...

 

I think some one of many amateur artists drew it and gave it to Mr Waller to sign, as you'd proffer an autograph book.

 

I was unable to find an image of him portraying a pirate or gypsy. I wonder what role this was

 

Bev, I also tried for a while yesterday. So far, nothing. But have not researched thoroughly... just the easy pickin's in some general web searches.

I just remembered that we were discussing it in another thread first. The closest I had found was one of his outfits in The Three Musketeers. Part of the costume in that was close, but no headscarf or earring.
Fig

 

Me, three... couldn't find any images that were close.

 

me 4...

 

Found it!

The play was called The Duke's Motto: a Melodrama. His character's name was Henry de Lagardere (although the link says some postcards call the character Henry de Lagardine). He played the role in 1908.

I had forgotten about this very useful site about Shakespearean actors. It does include other plays, too.

http://shakespeare.emory.edu/postcarddisplay.cfm?cardid=888

This is the main site, called "Shakespeare's World." http://shakespeare.emory.edu/

And knowing that, I also found this blog post about Waller, including several photo postcards of him. The 8th one going down from the top is a postcard from that play, with his leading lady.

http://filmstarpostcards.blogspot.com/2013/12/lewis-waller.html

Looking at those, I realized that I have the one with the bow and arrow, in which he was playing Robin Hood.