Object number
T.373
Title
Portrait of James Henry Dark
Date
1852
Creator
Production reason
watercolour drawing for lithograph
Material
Size
54.5 x 45 cm
Description
Full length, frontal portrait of a gentleman leaning on a cricket bat wearing black top hat and waistcoat. Pavilion building in background with large, multi-paned windows.
Watercolour drawing for lithograph.
A pair with H Samson. q.v.
Display caption
Portrait of James Henry Dark (1795-1871)
John Corbet Anderson (1827-1907)
Watercolour drawing for lithograph
Depicted in front of the second Pavilion at Lord’s, Dark ran Lord’s for almost 30 years after purchasing the lease of the Ground from William Ward in 1835. He had been employed as a ground boy at the first Lord’s Ground. When he became leaseholder, he built a house for himself and his family in the south-west corner of the Ground and many of his family members were engaged in taking gate money and making cricket bats and balls.
Produced between 1850 and 1860, the cricket lithographs of John Corbet Anderson were hugely popular in the years before photography became widespread. Featuring many of the greatest players from a period of great enthusiasm for cricket, they remain among the most desirable and collectible cricket prints.
MCC Collections: Donated by Mr F. Dark
T.373
Association
Related objects
FORD/TEMP7 : Cricket Life 1892, Lithographs
T.378 : Portrait of Henry Sampson of Sheffield
Exhibitions
Object name
Object Category
