John Kay

1 portrait

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John Kay

by John Kay
etching and aquatint, 1786
4 3/8 in. x 3 7/8 in. (111 mm x 98 mm) plate size; 6 1/4 in. x 4 7/8 in. (159 mm x 124 mm) paper size
Reference Collection
NPG D4970

Sitterback to top

  • John Kay (1742-1826), Miniature painter and caricaturist. Sitter in 4 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 288 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • John Kay (1742-1826), Miniature painter and caricaturist. Artist or producer associated with 288 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This self-portrait shows Kay near the start of his artistic career. He has depicted himself in a thoughtful posture in an antiquated chair, to represent his love of antiquities, with a bust of the Greek poet Homer and his painting utensils on the table. With him is his favourite cat - the largest, he believed, in Scotland.

His widow later complained that he would too readily 'quit his lucrative employment in miniature drawing, in order to commit some freak of his fancy to copper, for which, perhaps, no profit was to be hoped for'.

Related worksback to top

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Schama, Simon, The Face of Britain: The Nation Through its Portraits, 2015-09-15, p. 478

Placesback to top

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Portrait setback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1786back to top

Current affairs

Philosopher and politician Edmund Burke instigates impeachment proceedings against Warren Hastings, former Governor-General of Bengal after concerns about the moral standards of the British in India are raised.
Prime Minister William Pitt appoints commissioners for the reduction of the national debt and establishes a sinking fund of £1 million a year.
Government approves the establishment of a penal colony at Botany Bay.

Art and science

Robert Burns publishes Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect bringing him immediate success across the country.
Engraver and publisher John Boydell initiates plans for his Shakespeare Gallery in an effort to establish a school of British history painting.
Merchant David Dale establishes New Lanark in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, as a model cotton milling community.

International

General Charles Cornwallis succeeds Warren Hastings as Governor-General in India.
Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Marriage of Figaro premieres in Vienna.
Francisco Goya is appointed court painter to the Spanish king Charles III.

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