Ann Selina Storace
- Artist: Benjamin Vandergucht
- Date: circa 1790
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 30 in. x 25 in. (764 mm x 636 mm)
- Portrays: Ann Selina Storace
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
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About this artwork
This portrait shows Ann Selina Storace holding a sheet of music with her name printed on the top page. The canvas is about 30 inches by 25, oil painted around 1790 and attributed to Benjamin Vandergucht, a London painter‑dealer who produced many such stage portraits. You can see her in period costume, a hat tilted slightly, her hands resting gently on the music paper – the same sheet that marked her signature in the opera house.
Storace was a rising soprano at the time. In 1786 she performed as Susanna in Mozart’s *The Marriage of Figaro* during its first Vienna run, and he later composed pieces for her. The next year she appeared in Italian opera at London’s King’s Theatre, and by 1789 she became the highest‑paid singer at Drury Lane Theatre, a comic role specialist who blended acting with singing. This painting captures that bright stage presence captured in oil on canvas.
See it in person
Ann Selina Storace is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
