Group portrait of nine men seated around a table set with fruit and decanters; they are served by a black page. Boswell is on the left, with Johnson to his right talking to Edmund Burke; Reynolds is seated across from Johnson and listens with a trumpet to his ear. Garrick to the left of Reynolds faces the viewer, while Pasquale Paoli to his left observes Johnson conversing at the far end of the table. Charles Burney across from Paoli also follows the same conversation, as he rests his right hand on his chin. Next to Paoli, Warton leans toward Oliver Goldsmith who sits at the head of the table on the right; Warton holds his hand up towards his mouth as if to keep his words confidential. The room is richly decorated with a Japanese screen on the right, curtains, a miniature portrait, and a portrait bust on a pedestal on the left; Reynolds' pictures of Puck (Mannings 2142) and the Infant Academy (Mannings 2092) hanging on the wall and a bright chandelier hangs above the table
Description:
Title from later state in the British Museum., Also etched below is a facsimilie the nine individuals' signatures., and Tear badly repaired with tape, lower right corner. For further information, consult library staff.
Publisher:
Published July 1st 1848 by the proprietors Wm. Walker, 64 Margaret St., Cavendish Sqre., & Owen Bailey, 128 Seymour St. Euston Sqre
On the left the ghost of Samuel Johnson, in a great swirl of billowing clouds, appears before a startled James Boswell, right hand raised in alarm, who is seated at a table strewn with papers and remnants. In his hand he holds a cushion labeled "Hebrides." Behind him on the wall are two shelves of books, many of which are identified by author and title, or numbered, perhaps a reference to his journals that were the basis of his Life of Samuel Johnson. Below the shelves is a framed portrait of Boswell. A quotation from William Congreve's The Way of the World, Act iv, Scene 9 is engraved below the image
Description:
Title and imprint from British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Three lines of verse from "Congreve's Way of the world, Act IV, Scene 9", below title, beginning: Thou art a retailer of phrases ..., and A later copy of No. 8281 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 6.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Boswell, James, 1740-1795., Boswell, James, 1740-1795, and Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784
