Penelope Boothby
Oct. 23rd, 2011 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo |
This is the tomb of Penelope Boothby, who died in 1791, aged 6. Her father, Sir Brooke Boothby, was a significant figure in the history of the Enlightenment- the first publisher of Rousseau's Confessions and a colleague of Erasmus Darwin's. He idolised his daughter, raised her according to Rousseau's principles and was utterly devastated by her death.
Penelope was painted by Reynolds and (posthumously) by Fuseli. The effigy on her tomb is by Thomas Banks.
"She was in form and intellect most exquisite. The unfortunate Parents ventured their all on the frail Bark. And the wreck was total"
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no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 11:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 12:41 pm (UTC)The sunbeam is one of those "happy accidents".
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Date: 2011-10-23 11:17 am (UTC)The little girl has been depicted so naturally, compared to the stiff and formal tombs in the background.
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Date: 2011-10-23 12:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 01:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 01:54 pm (UTC)I do love a good effigy!
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Date: 2011-10-23 02:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 04:21 pm (UTC)I've spent much of today looking at 18th century pictures of children. The 18th century was when children became people in their own right.
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Date: 2011-10-23 03:38 pm (UTC)Everyone else stiff as prayer and her sleeping. That's very striking.
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Date: 2011-10-23 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-23 04:24 pm (UTC)And in its day it was a radical statement. It said that a girl of six was a person who mattered. People hadn't really thought that way before.
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Date: 2011-10-23 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-24 10:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-24 12:46 pm (UTC)