This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/25/2023
VESTRIS, Mr. The Royal Christy’s. Mr. Vestris. [London]: J. Hardy Steam Press, ca. 1875. Lithographic poster after a portrait by R. Childs of the cross-dressing blackface performer billed here as “the inimitable male soprano & dancer, from St. George’s Hall, Regent St., Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Crystal Palace &c. The only Negro Prima Donna, who has appeared before the Queen & Court at Balmoral in Octbr. 1868.” 35 ¼ x 23”. Short tears and wear around perimeter, a few spots of foxing. Mounted to a flexible card. The Royal Christy’s are likely one of many companies made up of members of the original Christy Minstrels, founded in 1843. Much has been written about the Vestris family, which produced many of the greatest French dancers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The true identity of the subject of this poster, however, remains a mystery.