John Kay, Drawn and Engraved by Himself 1786

Category

Library Item

Item no

13444

Title

John Kay, drawn and engraved by himself 1786

Description

A self-portrait of John Kay shows the Edinburgh artist sat at a small table. He is holding a book and a rolled document. On the table in front of him are many objects including scissors, artist's tools and the bust of a bearded man. On the back of the armchair sits a cat and displayed on the far wall are the outlines of several framed pictures.

Artist / maker

Kay, John

Date

1786

Size

9.7 x 9.7 cm

Type

Etching

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

The accompanying text in the volume begins as follows:
"The following sketch of the life of John Kay was written by himself, with the view, it is believed, of being prefixed to a collection of his works which he had projected:-
'John Kay, the author of these prints, was born in April 1742, in a small house a little south from Dalkeith, commonly called Gibralter. His father, Mr John Kay, was a mason in Dalkeith, as well as his two paternal uncles, James and Norman Kay. His mother, Helen Alexander, was heiress to many tenements in Edinburgh and canongate, out of which she was tricked by the circumvention of some of her own relations.
She had still so much confidence in those relations, however, that upon the death of her husband in 1748, she boarded her only son John, then only six years of age, with one of them, who used him extremely ill, and not only neglected but beat and starved him.While he lived with these savages in Leith, he ran various risks from accidents without doors, as well as from bad usage within; and there is every reason to believe that they really wished his death, and took every method to accomplish it except downright murder.'

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Related subjects

Animals > Mammals > Cats

Architecture > Monuments > Busts

Furnishings > Furniture > Chairs

People > Entertainment and sports > Artists

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

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