
Thomas Johnson aged 61, from A Brief History of Freemasons, 1784

Thomas Johnson, aged 39, appears standing behind the table in this painting by Zoffany, The Garden of Hampton House, with Mr. and Mrs. Garrick Taking Tea, 1762

A design for a mirror featured in Thomas Johnson’s A Collection of Designs, 1758
A GEORGE III GILTWOOD MIRROR ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS JOHNSON, English, circa 1765
Width: 3 ft 2 in; 96.5 cm
Depth: 10 in; 25.5 cm
Further images
Note: The mirror has been re-gilded in the 20th century. The mercury silvered glass is a replacement.
Thomas Johnson published the design for this mirror in A Collection of Designs in 1758. A mirror with carving of lesser quality but to the same design was formerly in the celebrated Rowensky collection in New York, which was dispersed in 1957.
The popularity and fame of the celebrated actor and playwright David Garrick (1717-1779) can be measured by the abundance of images and written references to him. His performances were captured in paintings, drawings and even ceramics, and it would be no surprise to find him here carved in wood alongside his wife, Eva Marie Veigel, on top of a mirror.
Not the least of Garrick’s achievements was transforming the previously somewhat dubious reputation of the acting profession into a respectable one. The Garricks befriended many artists and literati of their time, including Johan Zoffany and Dr. Samuel Johnson. The latter was a frequent visitor at their home, and in some cases historians may have mistaken Thomas Johnson for Dr. Johnson.
The painting by Zoffany commissioned by David Garrick in 1762, The Garden of Hampton House, with Mr. and Mrs. Garrick Taking Tea, depicts Thomas Johnson standing between the seated Garricks and having tea with them and their friend Colonel George Bodens, who looks remarkably like Dr. Johnson. George Garrick, David’s brother, is fishing close by. Until now the standing figure was thought to be the Garricks’ butler, Charles Hart, but Mrs. Garrick is depicted serving the tea to her guests, and this would be the butler’s duty. (Hart is captured in another painting by Zoffany of the same year, The Temple to Shakespeare at Hampton House with Mr.and Mrs. Garrick. Here Hart is seen bringing the tea on a tray and is clearly a different person to the figure in the previous painting: his face is younger and he has dark hair.)
The presence of Thomas Johnson in such an intimate group confirms a close connection or even friendship between him and the Garricks. It is also interesting to note that Johnson, also an artist, looks directly at the painter and at us, the observers, whilst the others are engaged with each other.
Returning to our mirror, the Gothic chinoiserie is exceptionally well designed and carved very much in the style of Thomas Johnson: it is possibly by the master himself. It does not follow the published design in every detail yet it harmonises with it, unlike the Rowensky mirror, which is stiff in comparison. The presence of a seated couple and one large and three small dogs in various parts of the frame is somewhat unusual. The combination of the couple’s formal attire, he with tricorn hat and she with bonnet, and their leisurely seated pose echoes Zoffany’s painting of Mr. and Mrs. Garrick outside the Temple to Shakespeare. The Garricks’ four dogs - three spaniels and a large mastiff - appear in Zoffany’s two paintings, and could well be the same dogs that are carved on the mirror.
Whilst much of this is mere speculation, hinging on four dogs and a seated couple reminiscent of the Garricks, a connection between the couple and Thomas Johnson has been established with the painting by Zoffany.
Provenance
Jeremy Ltd., London, England;
Private collection, England.
Literature
Thomas Johnson, A Collection of Designs, 1758, pl. 13.
Helena Hayward, Thomas Johnson and the English Rococo, 1964, pl. 4.
Christopher Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, 1978, vol. I, pp. 236-48.
Mary Webster, Johan Zoffany, 1733-1810, 2011, pp. 76-89.
Illustrated:
Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair handbook, London, 1988, p. 152; advertisement with Jeremy Ltd.