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No. VI.

DR. JOHNSON'S PORTRAITS.

[Referred to in Vol. VIII. p. 421.]

.

[The Note on Dr. Johnson's Portraits being incomplete, I am obliged to Mr. John Murray, Jun., for considerable Additions to the List, which are distinguished by brackets.-C.]

Date of Painting.

[Prior to

1752.

[1756.

[Before

1770.

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A miniature, painter unknown, which belonged to Mrs. Johnson, now in the possession of Dr. Harwood. See preface, p. xiv. First engraved for this edition, size

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A three-quarter face to the left (in an oval); he is dressed in what was styled a seven story wig, and holds a pen up to his eye. This picture apparently painted before any of Sir Joshua's portraits No artist's name or date.]

BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

I. Mr. Boswell's picture; sold at James Boswell's sale for seventy guineas. A three-quarter length. Dr. Johnson seated in an arm chair, which is covered with a tartan, or chequered cloth, at a table with writing materials; pen in his hand.]

1791

1793

4to. for first edition of Boswell's Life J. Heath. Ditto 8vo. for 8vo. edition of ditto J. Baker. [This picture has been repeatedly engraved for various editions of this work.]

II. a. The Duke of Sutherland's picture, formerly the property of Miss Lucy Porter, at Lichfield. See Vol. III. p. 163. Side face, to right, eyes almost closed, without wig; the arms are raised, showing the nervous habit to which he was addicted, when unemployed, of moving his hands up and down before him, with the fingers bent.

Sir Joshua is said to have had in his mind this attitude and the abstracted expression of Dr. Johnson's countenance, when he painted the Soothsayer Tiresias in his large picture of the Infant Hercules.

Date of Painting.

1773.

1775.

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b. The Duke of Dorset's picture at Knole is a duplicate of the preceding.

Folio, mezzotint, very fine

James Watson. 1770

8vo. mezzotint for Sir Joshua's works S. W. Reynolds.

An etching of the head only, from a copy of this picture by
Ozias Humphry
Mrs. D. Turner.]

III. a. Mr. Langton's picture, now at Gunby, near Spilsby, Lincolnshire, the seat of Peregrine Massingberd, Esq., Mr. Langton's second son. A full face, wearing an expression of pain; the hand laid on the breast.

b. Mrs. Piozzi's Picture, now in the Gallery of Sir Robert Peel, Bart., Whitehall, is a duplicate of Mr. Langton's.

There are numerous copies of this Likeness of Johnson: one is at Luton. Madame d'Arblay has another, made by her brother, and touched upon by Sir Joshua.

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IV. Mr. Malone's picture, now in the possession of the Rev. Thomas Rooper, Brighton. Three-quarter face, to left, kitcat size, represents him as near-sighted, holding a book up close to his eyes, one of which is nearly closed.

This was very displeasing to the Doctor, who, when he saw it, reproved Sir Joshua for painting him in that manner and attitude; saying, "It is not friendly to hand down to posterity the imperfections of any man." But, on the contrary, Sir Joshua esteemed it as a circumstance in nature to be remarked, as characterising the person represented, and therefore as giving additional value to the portrait.

In an oval 8vo., for Murphy's edition of Johnson's works

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J. Hall.

1787

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Date of Painting.

About

1781.

[1783.

1773.

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Full face, finished only as far as the shoulders, and copied into one of the large pictures now in the room of the Society of Arts in the Adelphi. The original sketch was sold at Barry's sale for 30 guineas. It is in the possession of Mr. Audinet. Engraved in line 4to. size

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Ditto, 8vo., with specimens of Dr. Johnson's signature at different periods of life

Anker Smith.

Audinet.

BY MISS REYNOLDS, NIECE OF SIR JOSHUA.

1808

1829]

A three-quarter length, the size of life, in oil; belonged to John Hatsell, Esq., Cotton Garden. This portrait did not please Dr. J., who styled it "Johnson's grimly ghost."]

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Several copies in crayon, from Sir Joshua's various portraits of Johnson,

(1) Brother of Mr. Townley, of the Commons, an ingenious artist, who resided some time at Berlin, and has the honour of being engraver to his Majesty the King of Prussia. This is one of the finest mezzotintos that ever was executed; and what renders it of extraordinary value, the plate was destroyed after four or five impressions only were taken off. One of them is in the possession of Sir William Scott, BOSWELL.

Date of Painting. 1782.

1748.

TROTTER S. C.

Johnson said when he saw the
ugly fellow like the original."

Engraver's Date of Name. Engraving. drawing, "Well, thou art an Vol. X. p. 97.

T. Trotter. 1784]

Profile in an oval, to the left, without wig
Whole length, in the dress worn by him on the journey to the
Hebrides, with his stick, folio

Do.

1786

[Side-face, to right, the countenance haggard, and exhibiting marks of decay. This was probably the last portrait for which Dr. Johnson sat: it was finished a short time before his death Do. 1786] [Do. prefixed to Harding's Shakspeare; drawing belonged to Dr. Farmer

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Do.

1792]

J. HARDING.

Side-face, to right

Trotter.

1782

Medallion, profile to left, with wig, prefixed to the Dic

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A wood-cut, on the title-page of Sharpe's edition of this work,

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For "Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy," in which Johnson's countenance is analysed upon the principles of that fanciful writer.

[A view of Tunbridge Wells, in which Dr. and Mrs. Johnson are introduced; the figures very small. See Vol. I. p. 218.

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A whole-length, in a cocked hat, ruffles on the hands, holding a stick behind his back. Not known.

There is a whole-length figure in Cambridge's works, 4to., drawn and engraved by Besland.] It forms the frontispiece to Vol. I. of this Edition.

[1777.

BUST BY NOLLEKENS.

Modelled in clay, but never cut in marble. The artist has represented Dr. Johnson without his wig; substituting for it flowing hair which hangs down the neck, copied from a beggar, who

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was called from the street to serve as a model. (See Smith's Life of Nollekens.) See Letters 305. & 313. Vol. VII.

A drawing by

Ab. Wivell.

W. T. Fry. 1815]

STATUE BY BACON.

In St. Paul's; the first monument ever placed in that building.
Repeatedly engraved.

There are also several seals with his head cut on them, particularly a very fine one by that eminent artist, Edward Burch, Esq., R. A.; in the possession of the younger Dr. Charles Burney. [Copied and engraved

by

Richter.

Richter.

1797]

Let me add, as a proof of the popularity of his character, that there are copper pieces struck at Birmingham, with his head impressed on them, which pass current as halfpence there, and in the neighbouring parts of the country.

[The most extensive collections, of engraved portraits of Dr. Johnson are those in the possession of Lewis Pocock, Esq., Mr. Upcott, and Mr. Murray of Albemarle Street. The latter was made by the late John Thomas Smith, of the British Museum, J. MURRAY, Jun. 1835.]

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