Category: Genius Faces
-
Music Historian Charles Burney Became Friends with London’s Artistic, Literary and Political Elites
Charles Burney gained fame in the Eighteenth century as a music historian. His name pops up in journals and diaries of the time as a gentleman of good company, intelligent and very likeable. He even made membership of Samuel Johnson’s literary club! Oh and he was father to Fanny Burney.
-
Editor Diana Athill Worked With Mailer, Kerouac and Roth, but Her Favourite Was Boswell
Diana Athill ‘s name is famous in the world of publishing. So when she says one of her two favourite writers is James Boswell (the other is Byron), it means something. She loves Boswell not for his Life of Samuel Johnson, but for his journals. Check out the story. Click.
-
Will They, Won’t They: Belle De Zuylen and Boswell Flirted, But Fizzled Out
Belle De Zuylen’s relationship with Scottish lawyer James Boswell could have made a nice little Netflix dramedy. From 1763-1764 they flirted and discussed and met and wrote letters. Nothing. Four more years of correspondence. Nothing. Then they married other people. De Zuylen was a fascinating person. Learn about her. Click.
-
PM Henry Pelham Defeated the Jacobites and Pacified the Scottish Highlands
This is Henry Pelham, British Prime Minister from 1743-1754, and the man who directed the response to the Jacobite rebels and their 1745 uprising. He sent Cumberland to Scotland where he defeated the rebels at Culloden and went on to ‘pacify’ the Scottish Highlands using Acts of Parliament. Click. Read
-
Talented Singer and Mistress Martha Ray was Shot and Murdered
Martha Ray was a talented singer in mid-Eighteenth century London, but better known as the mistress of the 4th Earl of Sandwich. She had a number of admirer, but one in particular became besotted and ended up shooting and killing her. The murder overshadow’s Ray’s biography. Click and read.
-
PM and Former Kit-Cat Clubber Wilmington Died in Office from Overwork
Wilmington is Eighteenth century Britain’s second Prime Minister – a Whig in a giant wig. His term was overshadowed by two 600lbs gorillas: Sir Robert Walpole and John Carteret. He ‘knocked his pan in’, exhausted himself and died just a year and a half into office. Interesting fella. Click. Read.
-
Moray McLaren Followed Boswell and Johnson into the Scottish Wilderness
This watercolour sketch shows Moray McLaren, a romantic and Scot who wrote two important books about Scottish lawyer and writer James Boswell, both of which see McLaren following in Boswell’s footsteps around Corsica and around Scotland’s Highlands and Islands. He’s an important Scottish scholar and well worth reading. Click. Read.
-
Samuel Johnson, the Greatest Wit and Moralist of Eighteenth Century England
Samuel Johnson was one of the most famous men of the Eighteenth century and this portrait (which I’ve copied) was made in 1772 when Johnson was 63 years of age, by his friend Joshua Reynolds, perhaps the greatest portraitist of the age. Click to learn more about this bloke.
-
Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole Gave Britain Political Stability
You’ve landed on Genius Fan’s first Genius Faces post. Welcome. What is the Genius Faces post category about? This series is all about portraits of people from the Eighteenth century (and people from other centuries relevant to that period). Most history blogs show the same portraits, clipped from elsewhere on…