This exhibition showcases around 360 of John Kay's portraits and caricatures, digitised from two volumes of 'A Series of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings' (1877). This is a third edition of the volumes, published by Adam and Charles Black.
The images are accompanied by descriptive text written from notes made by Kay himself, and an assistant by “the name of Callender”(1). The volumes were published by Hugh Paton who had acquired the plates of Kay’s engravings after the death of his widow. Paton enlisted a writer, James Paterson, and an editor, James Maidment, to compile the accompanying biographical sketches based on the notes, other sources and submissions from voluntary contributors who may have responded to an advert by Paton for “any authentic biographical or other interesting anecdotes”(2). The biographies of the individuals help to bring these people to life and compiled shortly after the time, provide a valuable historical document.
John Kay (1742–1826) was born in a small house near Dalkeith, Scotland. His father, Mr John Kay, was a mason and his mother, Helen Alexander, was heiress to many properties in Edinburgh, though she was cheated out of most of them by relatives. Despite this, it seems that she still had some trust in them as at his father’s death in 1748, a six-year-old Kay was boarded with these same relatives who not only neglected him but beat and starved him. He survived multiple life-threatening accidents during this period, including being pushed overboard from a ship (where he was thought dead until a sailor accidentally revived him by trampling on his belly.)
Kay was apprenticed to George Heriot, a barber in Dalkeith, where he served for six years. Though he showed an early talent for drawing with chalk, charcoal, or burnt wood he continued his work under the apprenticeship for seven years before establishing his own business. On 19 December 1771, he became a member of the Society of Surgeon-Barbers, paying about £40 sterling for the privilege. Kay’s barbering business thrived, attracting Edinburgh’s nobility and gentry as clients. He was particularly employed by William Nisbet, Esq. of Dirleton, who not only used his services in town but took him on his country travels. Nisbet recognized Kay’s artistic talent and encouraged him to pursue drawing and miniature painting. During the two years before Nisbet’s death (1783-1784), Kay spent considerable time with him and created numerous miniature paintings, some of which remained in the Dirleton family’s possession.
Kay married at age twenty to Miss Lilly Steven, with who he had ten children. Most died young except his eldest son William, who inherited his father’s drawing talent. After his first wife’s death in March 1785, Kay married his second wife, Miss Margaret Scott, with whom he lived happily.
Following his patron Nisbet’s death, Kay attempted etching in aquafortis. His prints were so successful that he abandoned his barbering profession in 1785 and established a print shop on the south side of Parliament Close (later known as Parliament Square) where his window displays of recent works attracted many people. That year, he drew a self-portrait showing himself sitting in an antiquated chair with his favourite cat (reputedly the largest in Scotland), surrounded by pictures, painting equipment, a bust of Homer and a scroll.
From 1785 until about 1817, Kay devoted himself to his engravings and caricatures, while also earning income from an annuity from the Dirleton family (regularly paid by Sir Henry Jardine.) For nearly half a century he documented the colourful characters, social customs, and political controversies of his time. His prints captured everyone from prominent figures like lawyers, professors, clergy, and military officers to ordinary citizens and street characters. Unfortunately, his shop was destroyed in the great fire of November 1824.
Kay describes himself within his own biography “as a slender, straight old man of middle size, and usually dressed in a garb of antique cut, of simple habits, and quiet unassuming manners.” He died at his house at No. 227 High Street, Edinburgh, on February 21, 1826, at eighty-four years of age. His widow survived him by nine years, dying in November 1835. Their son William predeceased his father.
Browse these images from the entire two volumes of Kay’s plates and summaries of their biographical descriptions to enjoy the way they capture his distinctive style, satirical humour and for how they offer a glimpse of society at the time.
1 Introductory Notice to the first edition by Hugh Paton, reproduced in Volume 1, 3rd edition of 'A Series of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings, by the late John Kay miniature painter, Edinburgh, with biographical sketches and illustrative anecdotes' (1877)
2 John Kay article via ParliamentSquareEdinburgh.net
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