David Garrick [graphic] / N. Dance.
1774
Items
Linked e-resources
Linked Resource
Digital image(s) of Folger Shakespeare Library FPa17
Details
Title
David Garrick [graphic] / N. Dance.
Created/published
1774.
Description
1 painting : oil on canvas ; 30 x 25 1/8 in. (76.2 x 64 cm)
Associated name
Dance, Nathaniel, Sir, 1735-1811, artist.
Taylor, John, 1735-1806, inscriber.
Taylor, John, 1735-1806, former owner.
Irving, Henry, Sir, 1838-1905, former owner.
Taylor, John, 1735-1806, inscriber.
Taylor, John, 1735-1806, former owner.
Irving, Henry, Sir, 1838-1905, former owner.
Material base
canvas
Note
Versions: The Folger picture is itself a replica or version of Dance's portrait of Garrick executed for William, first earl of Mansfield, the present location of which is unknown. This is possibly the painting which sold at Christie's 23 October 1969, lot 33, as "Zoffany, portrait of David Garrick," bought by Proctor-Pearson for 220 guineas. A drawing of Garrick by Dance, dated 16 March 1771, which formed the basis for the Mansfield portrait, is in the National Portrait Gallery, London. A drawing, much closer to the final conception, is in the William Salt Library, Staffordshire.
Signed in yellow paint at lower left on edge of book: "N. DANCE" (last letter difficult to see; may be written in script). Inscribed in black paint at top of book page: "MACBETH." Annotated in black at lower right: "Anno: 1774. This Portrait of my dear, & worthy friend / DAVID GARRICK Esqr. (painted by Mr. / N: Dance of London) was presented to me / by Himself: & is, in my own opinion, as / well as every other persons; allow'd, to be / the most true, & strking, likeness; of that great / Man, that ever was painted. John Taylor."
Engravings after original: The portrait is reversed and is in an oval format (2 3/8 x 1 7/8 in.) in an elaborate frame, engraved by J. Hall and published 1 December 1773 for John Bell, who also published a copy of this print by T. Cook in 1786.
Title from Pressly.
Signed in yellow paint at lower left on edge of book: "N. DANCE" (last letter difficult to see; may be written in script). Inscribed in black paint at top of book page: "MACBETH." Annotated in black at lower right: "Anno: 1774. This Portrait of my dear, & worthy friend / DAVID GARRICK Esqr. (painted by Mr. / N: Dance of London) was presented to me / by Himself: & is, in my own opinion, as / well as every other persons; allow'd, to be / the most true, & strking, likeness; of that great / Man, that ever was painted. John Taylor."
Engravings after original: The portrait is reversed and is in an oval format (2 3/8 x 1 7/8 in.) in an elaborate frame, engraved by J. Hall and published 1 December 1773 for John Bell, who also published a copy of this print by T. Cook in 1786.
Title from Pressly.
Publications about material
George Winchester Stone, Jr., "The Journal of David Garrick," New York, 1939, frontispiece; Fink 1959, p. 62 (pl. 16); review of Fink by Dorothy Adlow, "The Christian Science Monitor," 4 May 1960, p. 6 repr.; George Winchester Stone, Jr., ed., "The London Stage 1660-1800," Carbondale, Ill., 1962, part 4, vol. 1, repr. facing p. 176; Anglesea 1971, p. 164; David Goodreau, "Nathaniel Dance," exhibition at Kenwood, 1977, no. 28; G. W. Stone, Jr., and George M. Kahrl, "David Garrick: A Critical Biography," London and Amsterdam, 1979, p. 303; "The Plays of David Garrick," ed. Harry William Pedicord and Frederick Louis Bergmann, Carbondale and Edwardsville, Ill., 1980, vol. 1, frontispiece.
Provenance
Provenance: Gift of David Garrick to John Taylor; Taylor sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, Auctioneers, 8 King St., St. James's Square, London, 14 March 1840, lot 31, bought by Wilson, £19.8.6; collection of Sir Henry Irving; his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, Auctioneers, 8 King St., St. James's Square, London, 16 December 1905, lot 118; Christie, Manson & Woods, Auctioneers, 8 King St., St. James's Square, London, 15 June 1923, lot 135, as the property of a Lady.
Source of acquisition
Bought by Folger, April 1926, from Curtis Walters, Autographs, Rare Books, Prints, 31-33 E. 27th St., New York; Rare and Fine Books, Autographs and Prints, Art Bookbinding, 109-13 W. 57th ST., Steinway Hall, New York [1926], who had acquired the painting from Meagher, another dealer (until now the provenance of no. 137 has been wrongly ascribed to this painting)
Exhibited
Exhibited: Mead Art Building, Amherst College, "Shakespeare, Hamlet, and Macbeth" (no catalogue), 1951.
Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library, 2005. David Garrick.
Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library, 2005. David Garrick.
Cited/described in
Pressly, W.L. Paintings in the Folger Shakespeare Library, 106 (Plate 21)
Linked resources
Digital image(s) of Folger Shakespeare Library FPa17
Genre/form
Portrait paintings.
Place of creation/publication
Great Britain -- England.
Item Details
Call number
FPa17
Folger-specific note
This record contains unverified data from a re-keying contract and may contain incorrect or incomplete text. Please consult Curator for assistance.