Mr. Quick as Vellum in Addison's Drummer

Samuel De Wilde · 1792

Medium

Oil on canvas

Original size

36.8 × 27.9 cm (14 1/2 × 11 in.); Framed: 46.4 × 38.1 × 6 cm (18 1/4 × 15 × 2 3/8 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Neoclassicism

This intimate theatrical portrait captures the comic actor John Quick mid-performance, costumed as Vellum in Joseph Addison's long-running comedy *The Drummer*, and radiates the particular energy of Georgian stage life frozen in paint. Samuel De Wilde built his reputation almost entirely on portraits like this one — actors caught in character, posed as if mid-scene rather than mid-sitting. Working in London during the late eighteenth century, he became the unofficial chronicler of the Covent Garden and Drury Lane stages, producing hundreds of small-scale theatrical portraits that are now as valuable as historical documents as they are as paintings. His technique favours crisp, descriptive handling: costumes rendered with careful attention to fabric and trim, faces given genuine expression rather than formal composure. John Quick was one of the most popular comic performers of his era, celebrated for low-comedy roles, and De Wilde painted him several times across different productions — a mark of how closely the two men's careers became intertwined. This hand-painted oil reproduction is produced on canvas using traditional techniques, with each brushstroke laid by a trained artist rather than printed or transferred. The result carries the warmth and depth of the original held at the Art Institute of Chicago, faithful to De Wilde's light touch and eye for theatrical character.