DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2057#0344
H OGARTH* 20,1
moiir; his features posterity would have
only known by description, had not 'his
friend Hogarth, to whom he had often pro-
mised to sit, made this drawing;—^for sin-
gular as it may seem, though this admirable
writer lived on intimate terms with the best
artists of the day, no portrait of him was
ever painted.
Many strange stories have been told of
the manner in which the drawing was made,
such as the hint being taken from a shade which
a lady cut with scissars;—of Mr. Garrick
having put on a suit of his old friend's clothes,
and making up his features, and assuming his
attitude for the painter to copy, etc. etc. These
are trifling tales to please children, and
echoed from one to another, because the
multitude love the marvellous.
The simple fact is, that the painter of the
Distrest Poet, and the author of Tom Jones,
having talents of a similar texture, lived in
habits of strict intimacy, and Hogarth being
told, after his friend's death, that a portrait
moiir; his features posterity would have
only known by description, had not 'his
friend Hogarth, to whom he had often pro-
mised to sit, made this drawing;—^for sin-
gular as it may seem, though this admirable
writer lived on intimate terms with the best
artists of the day, no portrait of him was
ever painted.
Many strange stories have been told of
the manner in which the drawing was made,
such as the hint being taken from a shade which
a lady cut with scissars;—of Mr. Garrick
having put on a suit of his old friend's clothes,
and making up his features, and assuming his
attitude for the painter to copy, etc. etc. These
are trifling tales to please children, and
echoed from one to another, because the
multitude love the marvellous.
The simple fact is, that the painter of the
Distrest Poet, and the author of Tom Jones,
having talents of a similar texture, lived in
habits of strict intimacy, and Hogarth being
told, after his friend's death, that a portrait