Volume 1

The Farington diary / edited by James Greig.

  • Joseph Farington
Date:
[1922?-1928]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Farington diary / edited by James Greig. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Soane, the Architect, was originally with Dance in a low capacity. From thence He went to Holland, the Architect who was the Son of a Builder and had been a workman under his Father. Soane is about forty-four or five years of age [he was then 41]. He got the premium for a drawing of a triumphal arch about the year 1772 or 3 [in 1776], and was sent to Italy by the Academy, where He became acquainted with the late Lord Camelford,* who introduced him to Mr. Pitt. [Sir John Soane, R.A. was architect to the Bank of England, and designed its north-west corner. He was the donor of the Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. It contains fine paintings by Hogarth and others.] January 24.—Sir George Beaumont called on me, and we went together to Dance, where we found Smirke and Stothard. Sir George says the landscape N. Dance has painted last is superior to his former picture. He is in great apprehension about the times. Windham [statesman] told him yesterday that Fox is not a republican, but that in spirit, Sheridan and Courtenay are. January 26.—This forenoon I called on Lady Inchiquin.f She is anxious about the sale of Sir Joshua Reynolds collection of Pictures. The information she has received from Miss Reynolds, &c., &c., causes her to believe the present season very unfavourable for the sale of pictures of value. I corroborated this opinion, and gave it as mine, that if she sold part of the collection only, and bought in the many pictures, the expences would be so great a drawback as to leave a very small surplus. Christie I observed to her demanded the same percentage whether the pictures were really disposed of or were bought in, which on pictures of great value which might be bought in would amount to a large sum. In fine, I told her Ladyship, she must either make up her mind to risk a great part of the collection at what price they might go, or retain the whole till a more favourable moment arrived. This opinion of mine was conformable to her own. She told me Lawrence was desirous to have the copies of the King and Queen, which Sir Joshua had provided, as Lawrence had told her * Thomas Pitt, first Baron Camelford and nephew of the first Earl of Chatham. Camelford was described as “ a man of some talents and very elegant acquirements in the arts ” ; on the other hand, Mrs. Piozzi referred to him as “ a finical, ladylike man.” t The Countess of Inchiquin was Mary Palmer, the niece of Sir Joshua Reynolds, who nursed him in his old age, and inherited the bulk of his property. Sir Joshua died in 1792, and Mary became Burke’s ward until her marriage with the Earl of Inchiquin in the same year. He subsequently became Marquess of Thomond. Mr. Lindsay Fleming writes : The greatest debt is owing to the Morning Post for its happy publication of the Farington Diary. It has been well said, in regard to the Diary of Pepys, that while history instructs, gossip charms. While the student will gather gems of information from the diary, the general reader cannot but be engrossed with its minute portrayal of the great men of one of England’s greatest ages. The constant reference to the Lysons is of especial interest to us ; for in this house hangs a fascinating portrait of the antiquary (S. Lysons) by Lawrence. My father has also several letters written to the brothers. One, dated 1820, addressed to the Rev. Daniel Lysons by James Dallaway, author of the “ History of Sussex ” and other works, contains the following : “ I have ever considered his (S. Lysons) and your topographical works, as those of all others, from which I have obtained the best antiquarian knowledge and the most entertainment. I have them all—and owe many an interesting hour to their perusal.” And in another letter, referring to the “ Magna Britannia ” of the two brothers : “ I can assure you that I pore many a long evening over them, with increased information.”