The confidants

Description

Title: The confidants
Creator: Watson, Thomas, 1750-1781, printmaker
Contributor: Martin, Elias, 1739-1818, artist
Watson & Dickinson, publisher.
Published / Created: [20 May 1780]
Publication Place: London and England London
Publisher: Publish'd May 20th, 1780, for Watson & Dickinson No.158, New Bond Street
Abstract: An oval composition with two fashionable women with large bonnets sitting side-by-side at a small, round table laid with a fine tea set. The woman on the left reads from a large sheet (a newspaper?) as the listener looks on with interest and fondles the miniature hung from a ribbon around her neck
Description: Title from published state.
Proof state, before title added below image; see: Smith, J.C. British mezzotinto portraits, v. 4, no. 41, page 1566. Also British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: 2003,1031.5.
Compare: Goodwin, G. British mezzotinters: Thomas Watson, James Watson, Elizabeth Judkins, 61.I.
Provenance: Maggs Bros.; October 2025.
Extent: 1 print : plate mark 26 x 207 cm, on sheet 30 x 23.3 cm
Extent of Digitization: This object has been completely digitized.
Edition: [Proof state lacking title and with a variation design with a newspaper instead of a letter].
Language: English