17 March 2010

Literary Party


Having just studied a little work of Thomas Warton and Oliver Goldsmith, I thought it fitting to include this print (above), titled, A Literary Party at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, by Owen Bailey (1851). I love this print because of David Garrick's expression (and the recognizable likeness). Seated from left to right: biographer James Boswell (1740-1795), Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), portraitist and painter Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), theatre manager and actor David Garrick (1717-1779), philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Corsican patriot Pasquale Paoli (1725-1807), hoarder and music historian Charles Burney (1726-1814), Thomas Warton (1728-1790), and finally, novelist and poet Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774).

I think that Garrick's likeness was reproduced from the 1770 portrait by Thomas Gainsborough. By no means is this painting a masterpiece, but it is definitely one of the coolest renditions of "The Age of Johnson," and is emblematic of his intimate literary culture.
An image of the original print can be viewed here.

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