Another section of the article “Well-known Drop Curtain in Philadelphia Theatres” discussed the drop curtain painted by Russell Smith for the Grand Opera House in 1887. When it opened in 1888 The Grand Opera House on Broad Street and Montgomery Avenue became the third active opera house in Philadelphia alongside the Academy of Music and the Chestnut Street Opera House. It was published in “The Philadelphia Inquirer on Dec. 18, 1894:
“The Grand Opera House, which was opened to the public April 9, 1888, has one of the handsomest drop curtains in ton. It was painted by that now aged artist, Russell Smith, in 1887, when he was in his 75th year. The scene, so graphically designed, represents and incident in Greek history. When the Athenians (413 B.C.) undertook the expedition against Syracuse under their general, Alcibiades, they were defeated and many were taken prisoners, but such was the fame of Euripides throughout Greece that any of the prisoners who could recite verses from his writings were set at liberty. The picture represents Athenian prisoners in the city of Agregentum, in Syracuse, trying to obtain their liberty by reciting verses from Euripides.
The picture is surrounded by a heavy border, skillfully painted to represent a frame. At the bottom is a medallion of Shakespeare flanked on either side by Greek vignettes. A small copy of oil of this famous curtain hangs in the lobby of the Academy of Music. The wealth of bright coloring artistically distributed over the surface of this handsome curtain is such as distinguishes all of the works of that celebrated artist, Russell Smith. On the foreground is the harbor of Agregentum, and on its greenish blue waters float both oar and sailboats of curious pattern. On the quay are two military tents about which are grouped the Athenians and their Syracusian captors. Beyond rises the magnificent city of Agregentum, with its turreted towers, porticoed palaces and frowning prisons. A large circular tower to the right, from whose dark dungeons the prisoners have been dragged, seems to rise from the very waters of the harbor. A fountain surmounted by a bronze vase containing rare tropical plants shows the general climate of that part of Sicily.
Beyond the city and stretching away towards the northeast, among fleecy clouds, rised the frowning summit of Mt. Etna, 10,874 feet above the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Over the distant mountains seems to hang a faint pinkish opalescent haze, tinged here and there with rare tints from the bluish green waters of the harbor. The hole ensemble makes apicture at once pleasing, interesting and artistic.”
To be continued…
