Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue
Thomas Day (1748-1789), Author of 'Sandford and Merton'
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
A ‘splenetic, capricious, yet bountiful philanthropist’ of radical persuasions, a disciple of Rousseau; author of the children’s tale Sandford and Merton 1783-89, an advocacy of radical education.
‘Mr Day looked the philosopher. Powder and fine clothes were, at that time, the appendages of gentlemen. Mr Day wore not neither. He was tall and stooped in the shoulders, full made, but not corpulent; ... his features interesting and agreeable amidst the traces of a severe small pox. There was a sort of weight upon the lids of his large hazle eyes ... beneath the shade of sable hair, which, Adam-like, curled about his brows’ (Anna Seward, 1804).
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.
‘Mr Day looked the philosopher. Powder and fine clothes were, at that time, the appendages of gentlemen. Mr Day wore not neither. He was tall and stooped in the shoulders, full made, but not corpulent; ... his features interesting and agreeable amidst the traces of a severe small pox. There was a sort of weight upon the lids of his large hazle eyes ... beneath the shade of sable hair, which, Adam-like, curled about his brows’ (Anna Seward, 1804).
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.