John Astley and the Waistcoat
- Duky Town
- Jan 26, 2016
- 2 min read
There is a delightful story in Elmes' Arts and Artists of the character of Mr John Astley.
Whilst pursuing his studies at Rome several other English artists were also there, particularly Mr. John Astley, who had been his fellow pupil in the school of Uudsous and (?) whom Reynold used to say that Astley would rather run three miles to deliver his message by word of mouth to venture to write a note. ...
It was a usual custom with the English painters at Rome to meet in the evenings for conversation, and frequently to make little excursions together in the country. On one of those occasions, on a summer afternoon, when the season was particularly hot, the whole company threw otf their coats, as being an encumbrance to them, except poor Astley, who alone showed great reluctance to take off his. This seemed very unaccountable to his companions, when some jokes made on his singularity at last obliged him to take his coat off also. The mystery was then immediately explained ; for it appeared that the hinder part of his waistcoat was made, by way of thriftiness, out of one of his own pictures, and thus displayed a tremendous waterfall on his back, to the great diversion of all the spectators.
John Astley studied in Rome cira 1747. He married Penelope Dukinfield Daniel in 1759. John Astley died on 14 November 1787, at Dukinfield Lodge, and is interred at the Old Chapel in Dukinfield. Among Astley's recorded works are:
Francis Seymour Conway, 1st Earl of Hertford. Painted in 1754. Earl Waldegrave's sale at Christie's, 10th February, 1900.Rev.
Benjamin La Trobe, Moravian minister. Engraved by W. Bromley, 1792.
Galfridus Mann/Sir Horace Mann: Both painted in Florence. Were in the Strawberry Hill collection.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, at the age of 27. Bust portrait, in chalk, inscribed Rome, May, 1750. [British Museum.]
Sir Robert Walpole/Thomas Walpole: Both lent to the Whitechapel Exhibition in 1900, by H. S. V. Walpole.
Mary Woodyeare, Hon. Mrs. Morgan-Vane. Painted in 1753. [Rev. J. F. W. Woodyeare, 1868.]
Bust Portrait of a Lady. Attributed to Astley. [Brussels Gallery.]
British banking heir Tyringham Backwell (1754–1777), painted prior to 1777. (shown below)
By John Astley (1724–1787) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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