Lot Essay
This is a small contemporary version of a painting now is a private collection in America (see A Brush with Shakespeare, exh. Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, New York Public Library, and Chicago Public Library, 1985-6, no.23, repr. in cat., pl.V111). The large painting, which measures 53 x 68cm., was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1851 and sold the same year to an American client for ¨400. It was painted as a companion-piece to a picture of Sir Walter Scott and his Literary Friends at Abbotsford (Scottish National Portrait Gallery), painted a few years earlier by Faed's brother Tom (repr. Mary McKerrow, The Faeds, 1982, p.90). Both pictures enjoyed great popularity; they were engraved by a third brother, James, and the Shakespeare subject was re-engraved in America by John Sartain of Philadelphia.
The picture belongs to a familiar genre in nineteenth-century painting, illustrations to the lives of famous writers and artists. Shakespeare was an obvious subject. David Scott exhibited an enormous picture of Queen Elizabeth viewing the Performance of the 'Merry Wives of Windsor' in the Globe Theatre (Theatre Museum, Covent Garden) at the Royal Academy of 1840; George Cruikshank painted The First Appearance of William Shakespeare on the stage of the Globe (Yale) to coincide with the tercentenary of Shakespeare's birth in 1864, and Henry O'Neil represented Shakespeare reading 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' to Queen Elizabeth (RA 1877). In Faed's picture the poet is seen as 'first among equals' in a gathering of prominent intellectuals and literary figures of the day. His central position and simple black costume, together with the poses and glances of the other figures, all emphasize his pre-eminence. His companions are identified by James Faed's mezzotint as, from left to right, William Camden, Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset, John Selden, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, Samuel Daniel, John Donne, Walter Raleigh, Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, Robert Cotton and Thomas Decker. As the compilers of the Brush with Shakespeare catalogue observe, the picture 'probably represents the artist's imaginary reconstruction of a Friday Night Club meeting at the Mermaid Tavern. The Club was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh (here pictured in red hose and gold doublet, leaning against the chimneypiece), and its members were the outstanding intellectuals of London at the time. The Mermaid was located in Broad Street to the east of St Paul's ... There is no evidence that Shakespeare frequented the Club, but his close friend and trustee of his will, William Johnson, was the Mermaid's proprietor.'
The conception seems to be inspired by the group-portraits of merchants and burghers painted by Rembrandt and Frans Hals, but this was a late development. A sketch for the picture in the Glasgow Art Gallery (repr. McKerrow, op.cit., p.35) shows that originally Faed contemplated an open-air composition with far more figures.
We are grateful to Mary McKerrow and Stephen Wildman for their help in preparing this entry.
The picture belongs to a familiar genre in nineteenth-century painting, illustrations to the lives of famous writers and artists. Shakespeare was an obvious subject. David Scott exhibited an enormous picture of Queen Elizabeth viewing the Performance of the 'Merry Wives of Windsor' in the Globe Theatre (Theatre Museum, Covent Garden) at the Royal Academy of 1840; George Cruikshank painted The First Appearance of William Shakespeare on the stage of the Globe (Yale) to coincide with the tercentenary of Shakespeare's birth in 1864, and Henry O'Neil represented Shakespeare reading 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' to Queen Elizabeth (RA 1877). In Faed's picture the poet is seen as 'first among equals' in a gathering of prominent intellectuals and literary figures of the day. His central position and simple black costume, together with the poses and glances of the other figures, all emphasize his pre-eminence. His companions are identified by James Faed's mezzotint as, from left to right, William Camden, Thomas Sackville, Earl of Dorset, John Selden, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, Samuel Daniel, John Donne, Walter Raleigh, Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, Robert Cotton and Thomas Decker. As the compilers of the Brush with Shakespeare catalogue observe, the picture 'probably represents the artist's imaginary reconstruction of a Friday Night Club meeting at the Mermaid Tavern. The Club was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh (here pictured in red hose and gold doublet, leaning against the chimneypiece), and its members were the outstanding intellectuals of London at the time. The Mermaid was located in Broad Street to the east of St Paul's ... There is no evidence that Shakespeare frequented the Club, but his close friend and trustee of his will, William Johnson, was the Mermaid's proprietor.'
The conception seems to be inspired by the group-portraits of merchants and burghers painted by Rembrandt and Frans Hals, but this was a late development. A sketch for the picture in the Glasgow Art Gallery (repr. McKerrow, op.cit., p.35) shows that originally Faed contemplated an open-air composition with far more figures.
We are grateful to Mary McKerrow and Stephen Wildman for their help in preparing this entry.