Oliver Goldsmith

Henry William Bunbury|Oliver Goldsmith

ca. 1770 · Etching · Drawings and Prints

This caricature of Goldsmith, the novelist, playwright and poet, was designed and likely etched by his friend Henry William Bunbury (an inscription by Horace Walpole next to an impression that he owned, ascribes both roles to the artist). As the younger son of Sir William Bunbury, 5th baronet, the artist's income came mostly from a position as equerry to the Duke of York. Bunbury made a few early etchings around 1770, then relied on professional etchers to transform his drawings into prints, with examples published into the nineteenth century.

Artist

Henry William Bunbury|Oliver Goldsmith

Date

ca. 1770

Medium

Etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917