"The design simulates a pyramidal monument in bas relief against a stone wall, supported on short Corinthian pilasters between which is an inscription. On the face of the pyramid Lady Cecilia Johnston, is seated in profile to the right on a round close-stool. She is thin and witch-like, her chin is support by her left hand, the elbow resting on her knee. In her right hand is a torn paper inscribed 'Tranquility'. Behind the stool stands a little cupid holding his nose; in his left hand is a torch, reversed. On the ground (right) are bones and two skulls which gaze at Lady Cecilia. Beneath is the inscription: "By Patience, minds an equal temper know, Nor swell too high, nor sink too low; Patience the fiercest grief can charm, And fate's severest rage disarm: Patience can soften pain to ease, And make despair and madness please, This the divine Cecilia found, And to her Husbands ears, confind the sound." Vide St Cecilias Day."--British Museum online catalogue and The allusions are to St. Cecilia (died 177) and to Cecilla's husband General James Johnston. Also allusion to Shakespeare's Othello, iv.2.61-3 and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, ii.4.111
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., and Mounted to 34 x 24 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. Septr. 19th, 1791, by H. Humphrey, N. 18 Old Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Johnston, Henrietta Cecilia, Lady, 1727-1817 and Johnston, James Lesslie, 1697 or 1698-1789.
Subject (Topic):
Defecation, Monuments & memorials, Putti, and Skull & crossbones
Lady Cecilia Johnston, shown three-quarter length, turns slightly left but looking back over her shoulder as she reaches for a carafe on an elaborately carved hutch in a fashionably decorated room. She wears a dress with lace sleeves, her hair up in a lace cap. Behind her on the right, one cat is curled in an upholstered chair while another sits in front. Through the window behind, a winter scene, with snow covering the ground, a church, and a leafless tree
Description:
Title written below image, a quotation from Horace Walpole's letter to Lord Nunham, 7 July 1777 in reference to Lady Cecilia Johnston., Signed and dated by the artist in lower right corner of image., Place of production inferred from artist's city of residence during this time period., Page reference for quotation written below title: Page 150., and Bound in as page 234 in volume 6 of M.C.D. Borden's extensively extra-illustrated copy of: Horace Walpole and his world / edited by L. B. Seeley ... London : Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday, 1884.
A design resembling a high-relief depicts three amoretti attending the toilet of an old hag. The cestus of Venus is a huge pad which one of the attendants ties round the old woman's waist as another attendant holds up a mirror. A third cupid ties the girdle as the arrows fall from the quiver on his back. Behind him, the altar of Venus has tipped over, the fire still burning. A copy of Ovid's Art of love protrudes from the old woman's pocket
Alternative Title:
Vestal of 1793 trying on the cestus of Venus
Description:
Title from text below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Three lines of verse below title: Upon her fragrant breast the zone was brac'd ..., Subtitle transposed from below lines of verse., and Later state, with corrections to plate. Cf. No. 8389 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 7.
Publisher:
Pubd. April 29th 1793 by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street
A design resembling a high-relief depicts three amoretti attending the toilet of an old hag. The cestus of Venus is a huge pad which one of the attendants ties round the old woman's waist as another attendant holds up a mirror. A third cupid ties the girdle as the arrows fall from the quiver on his back. Behind him, the altar of Venus has tipped over, the fire still burning. A copy of Ovid's Art of love protrudes from the old woman's pocket
Alternative Title:
Vestal of 1793 trying on the cestus of Venus
Description:
Title from text below image., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Three lines of verse below title: Upon her fragrant breast the zone was brac'd ..., Subtitle transposed from below lines of verse., Later state, with corrections to plate. Cf. No. 8389 in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires, v. 7., 1 print : etching with stipple engraving and aquatint ; sheet 31 x 37.5 cm (trimmed to plate mark)., and Printed on wove paper, hand-colored. With pencil annotation above title identifying the figure as "Lady Cecilia Johnston".
Publisher:
Pubd. April 29th 1793 by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street
"Lady Cecilia Johnston, a thin and elderly lady (three-quarter length) much caricatured, in profile to the right, sits very alert and erect, her arms folded. Her hair is decorated with feathers and ribbons."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Companion print to: "At church.", and Temporary local subject terms: Theater audience.
Publisher:
Pubd. Octr. 4th, 1791, by H. Humphrey, No. 18 Old Bond Street
"A lean and elderly virago (three-quarter length) with straggling hair, wearing a handkerchief which scarcely covers her breast, stands in profile to the left, glaring fiercely. Her arms are bare to the elbow; she holds her thumb and second finger together, her left hand is on her hip. Etched below her are her words: "What do you know, you B-? -every one knows I am a - & a -, and setting that aside who can say black to my eye?" Her profile is that of Lady Cecilia Johnston as caricatured by Gillray. She had a bitter tongue ..."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched above image., By Gillray using pseudonym 'A.S.' See British Museum catalogue., One of a set of eight satirical portraits, each issued separately., Three lines of text below image: What do you know, you B-? Every one knows I am a - & a -, and setting that aside who can say black to my eye?, Watermark: J Whatman?, and Mounted to 17 x 13 cm.
Publisher:
Pubd. Jany. 6th, 1795, by H. Humphrey, N. 37 New Bond Street
"A lean and elderly virago (three-quarter length, after Lady Cecilia Johnston) with straggling hair, wearing a handkerchief which scarcely covers her breast, stands in profile to the left, glaring fiercely. Her arms are bare to the elbow; she holds her thumb and second finger together, her left hand is on her hip. She says: "What do you know, you B-? --every one knows I am a - & a -, and setting that aside who can say Black to my eye?" Her profile is that of Lady Cecilia Johnston as caricatured by Gillray. She had a bitter tongue ..."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched above image., By Gillray using pseudonym 'A.S.' See British Museum catalogue., One of eight satirical portraits issued as a set on one sheet., Three lines of text below image: What do you know, you B-? Every one knows I am a - & a -, and setting that aside who can say black to my eye?, and On same sheet: Ministerial eloquence; Opposition eloquence; Naval eloquence; Military eloquence; Fools eloquence; Pulpit eloquence; Bar eloquence.
Publisher:
Pubd. Jany. 6th, 1795, by H. Humphrey, N. 37 New Bond Street
"A domestic concert with a lady playing the piano, accompanied by male violinist, cellist and flautist, while a man sings behind; a man listening throws up his hands in horror."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Concert of vocal and instrumental music and Rising generation of Orpheus
Description:
Title from item., Printmaker identified from an original drawing in the Huntington Library., One of a series of Drolls., Eleven lines of verse in three columns below title: Orpheus was music master of the woods ..., Plate numbered '84' in lower left corner., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., and Temporary local subject terms: Mythology: allusion to Orpheus -- Musical scores -- Musical instruments: cello, with head carved at top -- Pianoforte -- Violin -- Flute or recorder -- Amateur musicians -- Songs: God Save the King.
Publisher:
Published 12th May 1794 by Laurie & Whittle, 53 Fleet Street, London
To the right of a round dining table is seated a woman with the head of Cecilia Johnston and the body of a cat. She is saying grace, joined by two cats who sit on the table in prayerful attitudes. A mandolin and musical score lie on the floor
Alternative Title:
Old cat and her favourites going to dinner
Description:
Title from item., Sheet trimmed with plate mark., and Print has been attributed to Gillray by Draper Hill, Jr.
Publisher:
Pubd. May 1st, 1782 by I. Langham, St. Bride's Passage, Fleet Street
Subject (Name):
Johnston, Henrietta Cecilia, Lady, 1727-1817.
Subject (Topic):
Musicians, Prayer, Cats, Dining tables, and Mandolins
"Five elderly women of fashion attend an altar of Love in a temple whose walls are wreathed with roses. The fat Mrs. Hobart, in profile to the right, pours incense on the flames of the altar; in her right hand is an open book, 'Ninon'. Behind her (left) Lady Archer, with the nose of a bird of prey, leads a lamb garlanded with roses; she guides the animal with a riding-whip. Miss Jefferies walks beside Lady Archer holding a basket of flowers. On the extreme left Lady Mount-Edgcumb, aged and bent, holds a dove in each hand. On the right of the altar Lady Cecilia Johnstone plays a lyre. The altar is decorated with rams' heads, a heart, arrows, and roses. A sculptured group of the three Graces stands in an alcove in the wall above the altar. In the background (left) is a mountain peak, Parnassus, on which sits a tiny figure of Apollo, playing a fiddle, the sun irradiating his head."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title etched below image., Printmaker from British Museum catalogue., Three lines of quoted text following title: "Here, Love his golden shafts employs; here lights "his constant lamp; and waves his purple wings; "reigns here and revels." Milton., Sheet trimmed within plate mark., Temporary local subject terms: Music -- Literary quotation: Milton -- Mythology: Parnassus -- Three graces -- Elizabeth Jeffries., Watermark: J. Whatman., and The ladies are identified in ink on the back of the print: Ldy. Cecilia Johnson, Mrs. Hobart, Ldy. Archer, Ldy. Edgcumbe.
Publisher:
Pubd. May 12th, 1787, by H. Humphrey, New Bond Street
Subject (Name):
Buckinghamshire, Albinia Hobart, Countess of, 1738-1816, Archer, Sarah West, Lady, 1741-1801, Mount Edgcumbe, Emma Gilbert, Lady, 1729-1807, and Johnston, Henrietta Cecilia, Lady, 1727-1817
Subject (Topic):
Graces, The, Apollo, Altars, Interiors, Temples, Books, Roses, and Lyres
