The Strand Magazine/Volume 4/Issue 22/Portraits of Celebrities
Portraits of Celebrities at Different Times of their Lives.
MISS MAUD VALÉRIE WHITE.
ISS MAUD VALÉRIE WHITE was born at Dieppe during a visit of her parents to Europe from Valparaiso. Her progenitors, however, were English; her grandfather on the mother's side being a naval officer, who had the distinction of serving with Nelson on board the Victory, at Trafalgar, in which engagement he was wounded. When in her teens, Miss White took up her residence in England, and received her first instruction in music from Mr. W. S. Rockstro and from Mr. Oliver May. In 1876 she entered the Royal Academy of Music as a student, studying for composition under the late Sir G. A. Macfarren. 1879 she gained the Mendelssohn Scholarship, the committee of which decided that she should continue her studies at the Academy. But it was Mr. Charles Santley who first revealed to the public her very remarkable talents, for, having one day been prevailed upon to look at a setting of her's in the Academy, he was so impressed with the beauty and originality of it, that he sang it in public, and made of it a splendid success. The name of this song was "Montrose's Love Song." Mr. Santley also brought the musical public in contact with two of her most effective and successful efforts, viz., "The Devout Lover" and "Absent Yet Present." Miss White is a highly accomplished linguist, and hers is a familiar face, as an accompanist, at important concerts. Her latest song, written especially for this Magazine, will be found in the preceding pages.
DR. LENNOX BROWNE, F.R.C.S.
Born 1841.
 From a Photograph. |
 From a Photo. by Moira & Haigh. |
 From a Painting by Seymour Lucas, A.R.A. |
 From a Photograph by Lambert Weston & Son. |
R. LENNOX BROWNE, who has stepped into the shoes of Sir Morell Mackenzie as an authority on diseases of the throat, was at the age of twenty five Sir Morell's chief clinical assistant. His artistic gifts, which are well known, and which, as may be judged from our first portrait, received an early training, have been of considerable use to him in his profession, as he executed the whole of the illustrations for Sir Morell Mackenzie's great work on "Growths of the Larynx," and also for his own celebrated book, "The Throat and its Diseases." He was mainly instrumental in founding the Central London Throat and Ear Hospital, of which he is the senior surgeon; he is consulting surgeon to several other hospitals. He enjoys an especially large practice among actors, singers, and clergymen, who are particularly liable to lose their voices in the exercise of their vocations.
THE DUC D'AOSTA.
Born 1869.
 From a Photograph. | |
 From a Photograph. |
 From a Photograph. |
HE DUC D'AOSTA, who has recently been visiting this country, has, although but a young man, experienced many changes and vicissitudes of fortune. He is the nephew of the King of Italy, and stands next to his cousin, the Prince of Naples, in the order of succession to the throne. His father was the late Prince Amadeus, King Humbert's brother, and his mother the beautiful Princess Maria. His own name is Emmanuel, after his grandfather. At the age of two he was taken to Madrid, on the election of Prince Amadeus, his father, as King of Spain; but the Duc de Pouilles, which was then the baby's title, occupied the position of Heir Apparent to the Spanish throne only two years, until the abdication of his father in 1873. Prince Emmanuel is a captain of Artillery and an officer of the highest promise.
THE LATE MADAME TREBELLI-BETTINI.
Born 1838.
LLE. ZÈLIE THERESE CAROLINE GILLEBERT DE BEAULIEU was born at Paris, her family belonging to the oldest nobility of France. She was taught the piano at the age of six, and, on the discovery that she possessed a remarkable contralto voice, was trained for the lyric stage by Herr Wastel. She made her first appearance at Madrid in "Norma," at the age of twenty-one, and as it was at that time indispensable to have an Italian name in order to succeed in Italian. opera, Mademoiselle Gillebert formed the name by which she was known to the public by leaving out the G of her own name and spelling the remainder backwards. From the first there was no doubt of her right to stand in the very foremost rank of great singers. In 1862 she first appeared in London, and soon afterwards married Signor Bettini. In private life she was loved and respected by all who knew her, and her recent unexpected death occasioned wide-spread regret.
ARTHUR ROBERTS.
Born 1850.
 From a Photograph. |
 From a Photo. by Fry, Brighton. |
Present Day
From a Photo. by Lafayette.
RTHUR ROBERTS, "the funniest man in London," was born at Kentish Town, and started life, at about the age at which our first portrait represents him, in a solicitor's office, where one of his principal duties was to serve writs; but his salary not being equal to his ambition, he decided, with a lawyer's shrewdness, to eke it out by fulfilling any theatrical engagements—which were chiefly at smoking-concerts—he could obtain after dark. A lawyer by day, and an entertainer by night, he continued to be for eight years, until, at the age of twenty-five, he finally adopted the stage as a profession. Since that time he has played with enormous success, at first in music-halls and afterwards in theatres, creating a succession of characters which caused his audiences to scream with laughter. His most notable triumphs have been, perhaps, in "Madame Favart," "The Old Guard," "Nadgy," "Lancelot The Lovely," and "Joan of Arc." Mr. Roberts, who is, if possible, a funnier man off the stage than he is on it, lives in a large corner house at Maida Vale with his wife, son, and daughter. He is devotedly fond of cricket, and when on tour always organizes an eleven among his company, which is too strong for most opponents. He is also extremely fond of yachting, and is a lover of horses, of which he generally keeps four or five. No biography of Mr. Roberts, however brief, can omit to mention that he is the inventor of the immortal game of "Spoof."
VICTORIEN SARDOU.
Born 1831.
 From a Photo. by Petit, Paris. |
 From a Photo. by Mulnier, Paris. |
 From a Photo. by Petit, Paris. |
 From a Photograph. |
ONS. VICTORIEN SARDOU, the son of a professor in Paris, began life as a medical student, but was forced by want of means to give lessons in mathematics and to write a little for the reviews. His first play was produced at the age at which our first portrait represents him, but proved a complete failure, and three years later he was living, or rather dying, in a garret, miserably poor and struck down by typhoid fever. A neighbour, Mademoiselle de Brécourt, nursed him with tender care, and on his recovery he married her. Then, undeterred by his former failure, he turned again to writing plays, with such phenomenal success that before the age at which he is depicted in our second portrait he was master of a princely fortune and a world-wide reputation. He is best known in England by "Fédora" and "Théodora," which he wrote for Sarah Bernhardt. His reception into the French Academy took place in 1878.