The interior of an artist's studio. The painter sits with his back to his easel, looking intently towards the historian, an elderly man of pedantic appearance, seated in an arm-chair (left) reading from a paper held in his left hand, his right hand extended to emphasize his words. The young man rests his right elbow on the sloping top of a drawing-table in front of the casement window. In his right hand is a charcoal-holder, its end in his mouth. His left hand supports on his knee a portfolio. Behind the easel and beside the fireplace is the artist's wife (right) holding a naked infant on her knee, both well suited to serve as models for a history-painter. On the easel is a canvas on which a classical subject is sketched. Sketches are pinned on the wall above the chimney-piece on which are a candlestick, bottles, &amp;c. Above the historian's head (left) is a bust on a bracket. At the artist's feet are his palette and brushes. A cat sleeps beside the woman's chair. The painter wears fashionably-cut clothes negligently arranged; his hair is dishevelled. Cf. BMSat 6862.  1784
<br>Etching
1784<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1784-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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