The circumstance on which this severe satire against the irritable Bard
of Twickenham was built, is thus described by Dr. Johnson: “Mr.
Pope published, in 1731, a Poem, called ‘False Taste,’ in which he very
particularly and severely criticises the house, the furniture, the
gardens, and the entertainments of Timon, a man of great wealth and
little taste.
Hogarth made this design, which presents a view of Burlington gate. On
the front, as a crooked compliment to the Noble Proprietor, he has
inscribed the word Taste; and, as a standing proof of the
Projector being entitled to the application, placed a statue of his
grand favourite William Kent, triumphantly brandishing his palette and
pencils on the summit, with two reclining figures, representing Raphael
and Michael Angelo, for his supporters. Standing on a scaffold-board
beneath them, Mr. Pope, in the character of a Plasterer, is
white-washing the front, and whirling his brush with a spirit that
produces a shower of liquid pearl, which dismays and defiles the
passengers beneath : the principal of these, intended for the Duke of
Chandos, holds his hat over his head, to shelter himself in his retreat.
The torrent is not confined to his Grace’s person, but lavishly
scattered over his carriage and attendants, among whom is a Blackamoor
in the way of being white-washed.
The works of William Hogarth from the original plates restored by
James Heath : with the addition of many subjects not before collected,
to which are prefixed a biographical essay on the genius and productions
of Hogarth, and explanations of the subjects of the plates, by John
Nichols.
