Edward Alleyn in the context of College of God's Gift

The Earl of Worcester's Men was an acting company in Renaissance England. An early formation of the company, wearing the livery of William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester, is among the companies known to have toured the country in the mid-sixteenth century. A later iteration of the company toured through the 1580s and '90s; little is known about its activities, though in 1583 it included the sixteen-year-old Edward Alleyn, at the start of his illustrious career.

By the start of the seventeenth century, Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester was moving up into the higher levels of the late-Elizabethan social and political structure; in April 1601 he became the Queen's Master of the Horse. It was to add to his prestige that Worcester wanted to bring his players to London. Through the 1590s, only two companies of adult players, the Lord Chamberlain's Men and the Admiral's Men, had been officially allowed in London. Worcester was able to make his company the third, with a license of the Privy Council as of 31 March 1602. The company was initially supposed to play only at the Boar's Head Inn; but by August of that year they were negotiating with Philip Henslowe. Soon they were playing at his Rose Theatre, which the Admiral's Men had vacated when they moved to the Fortune in 1600. (Henslowe did business with the members of Worcester's Men as he had with the Admiral's: many company members were soon in debt to him for small loans.)

Augustine Phillips (died May 1605) was an English actor in the Elizabethan theatre who performed in troupes with Edward Alleyn and William Shakespeare. He was one of the first generation of English actors to achieve wealth and a degree of social status by means of his trade.

51°26′46″N 0°05′11″W / 51.44611°N 0.08639°W / 51.44611; -0.08639

Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, south London. It opened to the public in 1817 and was designed by the Regency architect Sir John Soane. His design was recognized for its innovative and influential method of illumination for viewing the art. It is the oldest public art gallery in England and was made an independent charitable trust in 1994. Until then, the gallery was part of the College of God's Gift, a charitable foundation established by the actor, entrepreneur and philanthropist Edward Alleyn in the early 17th century. The acquisition of artworks by its founders and bequests from its many patrons resulted in Dulwich Picture Gallery housing one of the country's finest collections of Old Masters, especially rich in French, Italian and Spanish Baroque paintings, and in British portraits from the Tudor era to the 19th century.