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Black John of Tetcott, James Northcote (1746-1831)
Filename: TRURI-1946-95.tiff
Size: 2301 x 3746 (12.6MB)
Date: 4th April 2019
© RIC
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Royal Cornwall Museum Photo Prints and Wall Art
Black John of Tetcott, James Northcote (1746-1831)
Oil on canvas, English School. In 1784 Northcote painted the portrait of John Arscott (1718-1788) of Tetcott, Devon, and it is probable that he painted this portrait of Black John of Tetcott at same the time. Black John was under four foot in height and suffered from kyphosis, known at the time this portrait was painted as hunchback. The descriptions of his life, spent in the service of John Arscott, record his success as a jester and his devotion to his master. It was common for servants lives to be overlooked and trivialised by the households they worked for and for their histories to be re-written, ensuring that they had no voice of their own. For example, it was noted that " his role as jester included swallowing and retrieving strings of live mice and mumbling sparrows, removing their feathers with his teeth while the sparrow was in his mouth. He died of grief shortly after his master." There is no history of Black Johns life (not even a record of his real name) that is not in relation to that of his master. James Northcote was born in Plymouth, the son of a watchmaker and optician. He was apprenticed to his fathers trade but showed a talent for art. In 1769 he left his fathers work and set up as a portrait painter. He was admitted as a pupil into the studio and house of Sir Joshua Reynolds in London as a pupil and assistant between 1771 and 1776. He came to consider himself an authority on his master and in 1813, after Reynolds death, he published his posthumous Memoirs of Sir Joshua Reynolds
TRURI : 1946.95
Media ID 18848159
© RIC
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