|
Date: |
|
Description: | AtH s. b.r. "J. Finlayson fect."; Inscr. b.c. "Published Novr 30th 1769"; inscr. b.l. "J. Zoffany pinxt" CRE FINLAYSON, John; (English; 1730-1776) AFTER ZOFFANY, Johan; (English; 1733-1810) From a group of theatrical mezzotints in Hunter's print collection. In this famous play, Hunter's profession literally put him in the footlights. Samuel Foote's The Devil Upon Two Sticks was one of the hits of the 1768 season, making capital from a real-life drama enacted at the Royal College of Physicians in September 1767, in which Hunter played a leading role. Zoffany exhibited the painting of this subject at the Society of Artists in May 1769; Finlayson's mezzotint was published on 30 November. The play, the painting, and the mezzotint gave a very public airing to a dispute in the medical world, between the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians, and the Licentiates, of which Hunter was one of the most prominent. The College restricted its fellowship to graduates of the English universities (Oxford and Cambridge), thus barring equally distinguished Dutch, or Scottish graduates, such as Hunter.
The extraordinary financial success of Foote's play depended on popular knowledge of the assault on the College in September 1767 carried out by a group of disgruntled Licentiates, including Hunter, who stormed the building accompanied by a blacksmith to remove the locks. The event was familiar to many through an engraving, The March of the Medical Militants, published by Robert Sayer on 1 September 1768. The scene represented by Zoffany became infamous, and was frequently played on its own. Dr Last - a country cobbler - is being given his vvia voce examination for entry to the College by The President, Hellebore (Sir William Browne). After the examination, Dr Hellebore gives a lecture about Animalculae, which seems to reflect some of Hunter's teaching. Besides the President, Sir William Browne, who greatly enjoyed seeing himself on stage, several of Hunter's other friends were ridiculed. Fellow collector, Dr John Fothergill (1712-1780), who appeared in the play as Dr Broadbrim, wrote to Hunter asking him to intercede with his friend the Lord Chamberlain (Lord Hertford): 'Pray, dear Doctor, will it be practicable for Lord H - to dismiss me with any decency from the stage?'
In addition to being a comic genius, Samuel Foote (Truro 1721-1777 London) was something of an art lover. He was a member of Joshua Reynolds's famous Club, and attended dinners at the Royal Academy in the 1770s. He owned Zoffany's painting of The Devil Upon Two Sticks, which hung in his villa 'North End' with an earlier painting of himself and Mr Hayes in The Mayor of Garratt (1763). | License: | http://www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/spirit/rights/ | Publisher: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Rights holder: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Subjects: | THEATRE : DOUBLE PORTRAIT : HUNTER 2007 : THEATRICAL PRINT : ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS : JOHN FOTHERGILL : | Source: | Hunterian Museum | Creator: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Identifier: | http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
|
|