The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver GoldsmithGoldsmith, Oliver
General
The Complete Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith
Goldsmith, Oliver
English poetry; Literature -- Collections
The portrait by Reynolds, above referred to, was painted for the Thrale Gallery
at Streatham, on the dispersion of which, in May, 1816, it was bought for the
Duke of Bedford for £133 7s. It is now at Woburn Abbey (Cat. No. 254). At
Knole, Lord Sackville possesses another version (Cat. No. 239), which was
purchased in 1773 by the Countess Delawarr, and was shown at South Kensington
in 1867. Here the dress is a black coat and a brown mantle with fur. The
present owner exhibited it at the Guelph Exhibition of 1891. A third version,
now in the Irish National Gallery, once belonged to Goldsmith himself, and then
to his brother-in-law, Daniel Hodson. Finally there is a copy, by a pupil of
Reynolds, in the National Portrait Gallery, to which it was bequeathed in 1890
by Dr. Leifchild, having formerly been the property of Caleb Whitefoord. Caleb
Whitefoord also had an ‘admirable miniature’ by Reynolds, which
belongs to the Rev. Benjamin Whitefoord, Hon. Canon of Salisbury (_Whitefoord
Papers_, 1898, p. xxvii). A small circular print, based upon Reynolds, and
etched by James Basire, figures on the title-page of _Retaliation_. Some
of the plates are dated April 18, 1774.* The National Portrait Gallery has also
a silhouette, attributed to Ozias Humphry, R.A., which was presented in 1883 by
Sir Theodore Martin, K.C.B. Then there is the portrait by Hogarth shown at
South Kensington in 1867 by the late Mr. Studley Martin of Liverpool. It
depicts the poet writing at a round table in a black cap, claret-coloured coat
and ruffles. Of this there is a wood-cut in the later editions of
Forster’s _ Life_ (Bk. iii, ch. 14). The same exhibition of 1867
contained a portrait of Goldsmith in a brown coat and red waistcoat, ‘as
a young man.’ It was said to be extremely like him in face, and was
attributed to Gainsborough. In Evans’s edition of the _Poetical and
Dramatic Works_ is another portrait engraved by Cook, said, on some copies,
to be ‘from an original drawing’; and there is in the Print Room at
the British Museum yet another portrait still, engraved by William Ridley
‘from a painting in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Williams,’ no
doubt Goldsmith’s friend, the Rev. David Williams, founder of the Royal
Literary Fund. One of these last may have been the work to which the poet
refers in a letter to his brother Maurice in January, 1770. ‘I have sent
my cousin Jenny [Jane Contarine] a miniature picture of myself . . . The face
you well know, is ugly enough, but it is finely painted’ (_Misc.
Works_, 1801, p. 88).
* There is also a sketch by Reynolds (?) at the British Museum.
[Illustration: ]
SILHOUETTE OF GOLDSMITH
(Ozias Humphry)
In front of Dublin University is a bronze statue of Goldsmith by J. H.
Foley, R.A., erected in 1864.** Of this there is a good engraving by
G. Stodart. On the memorial in Westminster Abbey erected in 1776 is a
medallion by Joseph Nollekens.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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