The Famous Portrait. George du Maurier Punch 94 (22 January 1881): 30. Click on image to enlarge it.
Lady Midas. “Now for your opinion, Dear!”
Ernest Raphael Sopely. “Yes—your candid opinion, Mrs. de Tomkyns.”
Oorgius Midas, Junior. “As a friend of doth Parties, you know—hay, Mrs. T. ? ”
Mrs. Ponsonby de Tomkyns (equal, as usual, to the occasion). “Well—as a mere Work of Art, it surpasses anything I have ever seen either by Titian, Rembrandt or Velasqez, and will live forever! But as a likeness of my dearest Lady Midas, it is—you will forgive me for saying so, Mr. Sopely ? "—(the Artist bows)—“A Libel!”
[Exeunt all to dinner, in the best of spirits, and just as E. R. Sopely is on the point of offering to paint Mrs. P. de T. for nothing, Sir Gorgius gives him a Commission for two full-length Portraits of that admirable woman, one for her, and one for himself and “’er Ladyship.”
What Artists and Their Families Have to Put Up With
- "Equal to the Occasion"
- "Trials of a Painter's Wife"
- "Histrionic Egotism [an actor's self-centeredness]"
- "How Reputations of Distinguished Amateurs are Sometimes Made"
- "Precedence in Vanity Fair"
- "Two on a Tower"
- "Nature versus Art"
- Artistic Amenities
- "Distinguished Professionals"
- "Social Taradiddles"
- "The Famous Portrait"
- "The Mother of Invention"
- "Varnishing Day at the Royal Academy"
Looking at Works of Art
- "Professional Beauties of the Past"
- "Flunkyana"
- "A New Reading of a Famous Picture"
- At the R. A. -- Triumph of Realistic Art
- Instinctive Critical Acumen [Moses Striking the Rock]
- The Famous Portrait
Scanned image and text by George P. Landow [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Punch. Hathi Trust Digital Library online version of a copy in the University of California Library. Web. 4 May 2020.
Last modified 4 May 2020