Thomas Stothard's "Portrait of Laurence Sterne, AM, Prebendary of York" for Sterne's "A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy" (1792 edition)

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Portrait of Laurence Sterne, AM, Prebendary of York

Artist: Thomas Stothard, from Sir Joshua Reynolds

Engraver: Revenet

1792

Wood-engraving

11 cm high by 8.2 cm wide

Source: Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, facing title-page in the 1792 edition.

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Laurence Sterne (homepage)

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Stothard provided only six actual illustrations in the Good and Harding edition of 1792, reprinted by West, Hughes, and E. Harding in 1801, in which edition the publishers employed instead The Pulse as the frontispiece.

Title-page: A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick (1792)

Title-page: A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick. A New Edition. Adorned with Plates. (1801)

Commentary: The Genial Rev. Sterne, Enlightenment Sage

Since Laurence Sterne had already been dead a quarter of a century, Thomas Stothard would have been able to recall from life the image of the genial, quirky author, so that his portrait, like that of Tony Johannot (1857), likely depends upon his having had access to Sir Joshua Reynolds' sympathetic study in the National Gallery. Sterne, in fact, sat at least sixteen times for his portrait, further examples of which are as follows:

Laurence Sterne (1760) Room 12 at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG 5019)
Laurence Sterne (artist unknown) Art UK: Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council

In addition to portrait capturing both the thoughtful and humorous qualities of Laurence Sterne, "AM, Prebendary of York," Stothard offers a short narrative pictorial series that highlights some of the novella's principal scenes:

Yorick, the Lady, and the Monk ("The Snuff-box"), facing p. 26

The Mourner. ("The Dead Ass"), facing p. 56

Yorick and the Grisette ("The Pulse"), facing p. 72

The Starling ("The Passport"), facing p. 102

Maria and Yorick ("Maria. Moulines"), facing p. 167

The Dance ("The Grace") facing p. 175.

The brevity of the pictorial sequence for Mr. Yorick's travels through France must owe something to these illustrations being part of a much larger project, The Works of Laurence Sterne. In Four Volumes. Containing The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent.; A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; Sermons — Letters, &c. With a Life of the Author Written by Himself.

Additional Resources

Bibliography

Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick. Illustrated by Thomas Stothard. London: J. Good, No. 159, New Bond Street; and E. and S. Harding, No. 102, Pall Mall, MDCCXII [1792]; West and Hughes, Paternoster-Row, and E. Harding, Pall-Mall, 1801.

Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. Illustrated with one hundred engravings on wood, by Bastin and G. Nichols, from original designs by Jacque and Fussell. London: Joseph Thomas, 1841.

Sterne, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. With 100 illustrations by Tony Johannot. London: Willoughby, 1857.

Stothard's Illustrations for Sterne's A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick (1792). Accessed 26 September 2018. Available online at VTS: fulltable.com

Turner, Katherine. "Notes." Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy (1768). Peterborough, ON: Broadview, 2010.

Last modified 12 October 2018