Hand-coloured photograph of actor Charles Kean as Leontes in The Winter's Tale, Act I, Scene II. Kean wears a white and gold tunic with red fabric around the lower part of his body and left arm.
Charles Kean (1811-68) staged Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale at the Princess's Theatre in 1856 and was a performance attended by Queen Victoria. The Queen commissioned the photographer Joseph Cundall (1819-95) to photograph Kean in costume along with four other actors who performed in the play. This photograph was hand coloured by Mr Locke who worked as a colourist for the photographer Joseph Cundall.