Mr Cullen as Blueskin

Small, handcoloured theatrical souvenir print engraved with a portrait of the actor Mr Cullen in the role of Blueskin the Pirate. The portrait is embellished with metal foil tinsel ornaments notably on the sword, lamp and dress accessories. The clothing is of cotton and silk; the hat and boots of black paper. The portrait has been cut from a paper sheet and mounted on card handcoloured with background scenery, it forms part of a tableau beside two other tinsel portraits mounted behind a single cardboard frame. Such portraits would have been sold plain for colouring and tinselling at home.

Cullen perfomed the role of Blueskin in the successful play Jack Sheppard. Cullen was employed for several years at the popular Surrey Theatre, with actors such as E.F. Saville. On the 14th of December 1840 Cullen was tried for bigamy, and at his trial Saville appeared as a witness for the defence. One of the lines of questioning centred around whether a head injury had affected his memory. The part of Blueskin required memorising a substantial amount of lines, a fact that was taken to contradict his claim that he did not recall the date of his previous wife. Cullen was found guilty and sentenced to six months confinement without hard labour.