Sir William Hamilton and Society Dilettante
Mezzotint after Sir Joshua Reynolds

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Sir William Hamilton and Society Dilettante
Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) (after)
Say (engraver)
Sir William Hamilton and Society Dilettante
London: c. 1780s
Mezzotint
25 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches
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A gathering of the members of the Society Dilettante, an exclusive club of British aristocrats dedicated to studying classical art and knowledge on the Grand Tour and as a pastime. As the men enjoy a drink together, Sir William Hamilton (1730-1806), a prominent collector, shows them one of his ancient Greek and Roman vases and a recently published book of engravings of his vase collection. (See prints from this book here.) Members are identified left to right: Sir W.W. Wynn, Sir J. Taylor, Mr. Payne Galway, Sir William Hamilton, Mr. Richard Thompson, Mr. Stanhope, Mr. Smith of Heath. This print is based on a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, one of the great English portrait painters of the late 18th century.

Born to an aristocratic Scottish family, Sir William Hamilton was an enthusiast of the arts and sciences at the height of the Age of Enlightenment. He assembled one of the world's finest collections of Greek and Roman antiquities as British Envoy Extraordinaire to the two Sicilies from 1764-1800. Most of the antiquities he collected came from excavations in Southern Italy and Sicily, and he later sold most of them to the British Museum. In 1766, he watched the excavation of the Trebbia Tomb, and decided to produce accurate drawings of the vases found there. The glories of his vase collection were recorded in color-plate folios, which served as souvenirs for the great libraries of Grand Tour travelers and patrons, and provided inspiration to decorative art designers in England, such as Josiah Wedgwood.