Skip to content

Questions about Richard Burbage

Short answers, pulled from the story.

When was Richard Burbage born and where?

Richard Burbage was baptised at St Stephen's Church in London on the 7th of July 1568. He entered the world as the second son of James Burbage, a joiner who transformed into a theatrical impresario and entrepreneur.

What theatres did Richard Burbage build or manage after his father died?

After the death of their father in February 1597, Richard Burbage and his brother Cuthbert stepped in to rescue the family's interests in two London theatres. They kept the Blackfriars Theatre but leased it to lawyer and impresario Henry Evans while they reassembled beams from The Theatre into a new playhouse called the Globe in 1599.

How did Richard Burbage die and when did he pass away?

An anonymous poet composed A Funerall Elegye on the Death of the famous Actor Richard Burbage who died on Saturday in Lent the 13th of March 1619. His gravestone was said to read Exit Burbage though it is now lost and he was buried in St Leonard's, Shoreditch.

Did Richard Burbage paint portraits and which ones are attributed to him?

It has sometimes been argued that the famous Chandos portrait of Shakespeare was painted by Burbage himself and some believe that the anonymous oil painting used so often nowadays to show what Burbage looked like was actually a self-portrait. The Felton portrait of Shakespeare is also attributed to Burbage along with a portrait of a woman currently preserved at Dulwich College in Southeast London.