Mrs Abington
Mrs Frances Abington (1737-1815), comic actress and fashion icon was described by a contemporary actress as: ‘the most lively and bewitching woman I had ever seen: her manners were fascinating; and the peculiar tastefulness of her dress excited universal admiration’. Abington seems to have possessed an innate ability to inhabit her clothes in such a way that made her eye catching, whatever she wore. This, coupled with her acting skill, natural comic timing and talent for mimicry led to a long and glittering career on the London stage. The period of her active life on the stage, 1751-98, corresponded with an explosion of fashion. The growth of female participation in society and the arts meant that by the 1770s, the high point of Abington’s career, the sight of an accomplished public woman was no longer an anomaly. This was also a period of growing interest in the private lives of public figures, and Abington became the subject of public fascination. The press increasingly published accounts of the activities of such people, feeding a growing appetite for gossip.
Abington left a legacy of images that is unrivalled by any other actress of her time. Like David Garrick, in many ways her mentor, she understood the power of the visual. However, all of these portraits depict her playing a part, never as herself, as if to create a barrier between the public desire to consume every detail of her person, and the reality of her personal life.