A watercolour of Hamlet as performed in the Rubens Room, Windsor Castle, before Queen Victoria, 11th January 1849.

This is one of the original drawings to John Absolon's A Complete History of the Theatrical Entertainments, Dramas, Masques and Triumphs at the English Court... including a series of plays performed before Her Majesty at Windsor Castle, Christmas 1848-9. Seven of the drawings are bound in to a copy of the volume with proof impressions of the plates. The volume was bound by Riviere & Son.

John Absolon was a landscape and genre painter who worked for the Grieve family, painting scenery and dioramas. Thomas Grieve acted as Kean's designer for the Windsor performances