DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1041#0239
History of the Society of Dilettanti 117
Mr. Knapton, a painter both in oils and crayons of
some merit, is best known to posterity through his
part in preparing, from various sources, the drawings
from which Houbraken produced the famous series
of engravings published in Birch's British Worthies.
In early life he had resided for some time in
Italy, whence he sent home an account of the then
newly discovered remains of Herculaneum. He was
an original member of the Dilettanti, and was
appointed Painter to the Society. The order above
quoted was at once responded to by some of the
original members. It is in accordance with a taste
in portraiture common in the previous generation,
and not yet extinct at the date of this order—it
is also in keeping with the festive and jocose nature
of the Society's proceedings—that the early por-
traits of its members are all in fancy dress, with
accessories of a more or less emblematical character.
In 1741 Knapton painted the portraits of Sir
James Gray, the Earl of Middlesex, Mr. Howe, and
Lord Hyde. These gentlemen are, as all those
painted by Knapton in this series, shown in life size
to the waist. Sir James Gray is represented as
Don Quixote de la Mancha; Middlesex as a Roman
consul returning from a campaign; Mr. Howe,
perhaps as a magician, pours wine from a vessel
shaped as a terrestrial globe; Lord Hyde holds
a large glass inscribed res public a. In 1742
Knapton painted Sir Francis Dashwood, Mr. Harris,
and Sir Brownlow Sherard. Dashwood is repre-
sented as one of the sham Franciscan friars of
Medmenham Abbey, holding a goblet inscribed
matri sanctorum, in an attitude of devotion before
a figure of the Venus de' Medici; the picture, the
motive of which is both indecorous and profane, is
Mr. Knapton, a painter both in oils and crayons of
some merit, is best known to posterity through his
part in preparing, from various sources, the drawings
from which Houbraken produced the famous series
of engravings published in Birch's British Worthies.
In early life he had resided for some time in
Italy, whence he sent home an account of the then
newly discovered remains of Herculaneum. He was
an original member of the Dilettanti, and was
appointed Painter to the Society. The order above
quoted was at once responded to by some of the
original members. It is in accordance with a taste
in portraiture common in the previous generation,
and not yet extinct at the date of this order—it
is also in keeping with the festive and jocose nature
of the Society's proceedings—that the early por-
traits of its members are all in fancy dress, with
accessories of a more or less emblematical character.
In 1741 Knapton painted the portraits of Sir
James Gray, the Earl of Middlesex, Mr. Howe, and
Lord Hyde. These gentlemen are, as all those
painted by Knapton in this series, shown in life size
to the waist. Sir James Gray is represented as
Don Quixote de la Mancha; Middlesex as a Roman
consul returning from a campaign; Mr. Howe,
perhaps as a magician, pours wine from a vessel
shaped as a terrestrial globe; Lord Hyde holds
a large glass inscribed res public a. In 1742
Knapton painted Sir Francis Dashwood, Mr. Harris,
and Sir Brownlow Sherard. Dashwood is repre-
sented as one of the sham Franciscan friars of
Medmenham Abbey, holding a goblet inscribed
matri sanctorum, in an attitude of devotion before
a figure of the Venus de' Medici; the picture, the
motive of which is both indecorous and profane, is