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Notes

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A composer, author, actor, and theatrical manager whose sea songs and operas made him one of the most popular English composers of the late eighteenth century. He began his stage career as an actor, and his first operetta, The Shepherd's Artifice, was produced at Covent Garden in 1764. By 1778, when he became composer to Covent Garden, he had produced eight operas, including The Padlock (1768) and The Waterman (1774). In around 1789 he began his celebrated one-man 'table entertainments', in which he acted as author, singer, and accompanist. Most of his sea songs were written for these, including 'Tom Bowling', 'To Bachelors' Hall', 'Poor Jack' and 'Twas in the Good Ship Rover'.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Charles Dibdin

Date

1799

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 73.7 x W 62.2 cm

Accession number

103

Acquisition method

Purchased, 1860

Work type

Painting

National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

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Artist or maker

Thomas Phillips

1770–1845

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