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Mezzotint portrait of the British coal merchant and patron of the arts Thomas Britton (1644-1714), popularly known as “the musical small-coal man.”  In 1678, Britton established a weekly concert series, which continued for an impressive 36 years and despite the rigid class distinctions of the day, he was befriended by members of the aristocracy, who came to the music room in the converted loft over his coal house to hear some of the great performers of the day.  His contributions to British intellectual life were noted by such literary luminaries as Jonathan Swift and Horace Walpole. 

The portrait shown here is after a painting by his friend, the portraitist John Wollaston, and depicts him dressed in typically plain garb, tuning a harpsichord in the music room.  Although an autodidact, Britton also was a noted bibliophile and, as Walpole put it, a collector “of all sorts of curiosities, particularly drawings, prints, books, manuscripts on uncommon subjects, as mystic divinity, the philosopher's stone, judicial astrology, and magic; and musical instruments, both in and out of vogue.”   These interests are represented in this portrait by the violin and bookcase filled with leather-bound volumes on the wall behind him. 

There were three variants of this engraving produced by Thomas Johnson and listed in Russell (see References below), one before title, the one offered here, and another similar to this one with an elaborate oval border around the portrait, an example of which is in the collection of the British National Portrait Gallery (see References below).

The print is titled below the image “Thos. Britton, Small-Coal-Man” accompanied by the following laudatory verse by the poet Matthew Prior, written after Britton’s death:

John Wollaston (sometimes spelled Woolaston in older histories) was an English portrait painter and musician, perhaps best known for his portraits of his friend Thomas Britton, “the musical small-coal man,” one of which was dated 1703 and is in the collection of the British National Gallery.  He performed at Britton’s concert series.  Other portraits by Wollaston are in Britain’s National Portrait Gallery.

Thomas Johnson was an English painter and mezzotint engraver.  Born in Lincolnshire, he worked in London, producing portraits and diverse subjects after painters such as Godfrey Kneller and Rubens, as well as his own compositions.  His engravings are in the collection of Britain’s National Portrait Gallery.

References:

Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs.  France: Librairie Gründ, 1966.  Vol. 5, p. 160.

Chambers, Robert.  “October 1st.”  Hillman’s Hyperlinked and Searchable Chambers’ Book of Days.  http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/oct/1.htm (8 April 2008).

“EESE 7/99 .”  Erfurt Electronic Studies in English.  10 March 2008.  http://webdoc.gwdg.de/edoc/ia/eese/artic99/loeff2/brit.html (8 April 2008).

“NPG D19690.”  National Portrait Gallery, London.  March 2008.  http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?search=ss&sText=britton&LinkID=mp00562 (8 April 2008).

Redgrave, Samuel.  A Dictionary of Artists of the EnglishSchool: Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers and Ornamentists.  London: Longmans, Green, and Col., 1874.   p. 461.

Russell, Charles E.  English Mezzotint Portraits and Their States: Catalogue of Corrections of and Additions to Chaloner Smith’s ‘British Mezzotinto Portraits.’ Vol 2.  London: Halton & Truscott Smith, Ltd.  New York: Minto, Balch & Co., 1926. p. 175.