‘The Complicated R-n’
Date
1790s
Sitter
Jonathan Richardson (1667 - 1745, British) , Portraitist
the younger Richardson (1694 - 1771, British) , Artist
the younger Richardson (1694 - 1771, British) , Artist
Creator
Samuel Ireland (1744 - 1800, British) , Engraver
After
William Hogarth (1697 - 1764, British) , Painter
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 195mm
width (print): 120mm
width (print): 120mm
Description
Satirical caricature of Jonathan Richardson the elder, seated and taking notes as he looks through a telescope trained on his son’s bared bottom (Jonathan Richardson junior), who is standing on a table with his trousers lowered. The shelves behind contain pictures, books and sculptures, with a portrait of John Milton. An easel, palette and brushed are laid before the table, and a small dog stands on hind legs, paws on the table.
Plate from a grangerized copy of A history of the Royal Society, with memoirs of the Presidents…by Charles Richard Weld (London, John W. Parker, 1848). In this edition, the original two volumes were extended to eight volumes with the addition of extra-illustrations and documents, by Alexander Meyrick Broadley.
The print appears after the title page in volume 3 of the adapted set of Weld’s History. Several versions of this print survive, from different plates: the additional attribution to Ireland and Hogarth does not appear on this one.
Inscription above: ‘The Complicated R-n’. Inscribed lower right: ‘WHF’. Inscribed below: ‘Know well enough my eye is no Eye at all / I must apply to my Telescope My Son is my / Telescope tis by his help I read ye learned Languages’. With a faint pencil inscription above.
Jonathan Richardson the Elder (1667-1745) British portrait painter and writer.
Jonathan Richardson the Younger (1694-1771) British artist and collector.
Plate from a grangerized copy of A history of the Royal Society, with memoirs of the Presidents…by Charles Richard Weld (London, John W. Parker, 1848). In this edition, the original two volumes were extended to eight volumes with the addition of extra-illustrations and documents, by Alexander Meyrick Broadley.
The print appears after the title page in volume 3 of the adapted set of Weld’s History. Several versions of this print survive, from different plates: the additional attribution to Ireland and Hogarth does not appear on this one.
Inscription above: ‘The Complicated R-n’. Inscribed lower right: ‘WHF’. Inscribed below: ‘Know well enough my eye is no Eye at all / I must apply to my Telescope My Son is my / Telescope tis by his help I read ye learned Languages’. With a faint pencil inscription above.
Jonathan Richardson the Elder (1667-1745) British portrait painter and writer.
Jonathan Richardson the Younger (1694-1771) British artist and collector.
Object history
Print from Charles Richard Weld's 2 volume A history of the Royal Society... (London, John W. Parker, 1848) grangerized by the writer and collector Alexander Meyrick Broadley (1847–1916) into 8 volumes, adding illustrative material and manuscript items to Weld's text. The books were initially owned by Ludwig Mond FRS (1839–1909), and according to an inscription by his son Robert Ludwig Mond FRS (1867–1938) they were intended for presentation to the Society. This eventually happened in late 1959, the donor being the politician Harry Nathan (1889–1963), Lord Nathan of Churt.
Related fellows
Charles Richard Weld (1813 - 1869, British) , Author
Associated place