John Broughton, prize fighter

after William Hogarth
1842

Boston Public Library Holt Collection, via Digital Commonwealth

The caption reads:

John Broughton.
Prize Fighter.
From the Original Picture (of the same size) by William Hogarth.
In the collection of Henry Ralph Willett, Esqu^re
of Merly House in the County of Dorset

The British Museum curator's comments suggest that the subject is likely to be James Figg rather than John Broughton, citing personal communication with Elisabeth Einberg (March 2011). Christie's Lot Essay for the original Hogarth painting (2020) also cites Einberg: "the sitter’s physiognomy compares more closely with contemporary likenesses of Figg, notably in a mezzotint by John Faber after John Ellys (fig. 1; London, British Museum) and in a drawing by Jonathan Richardson the Elder (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum)." However, his portrait bears little resemblance to the scowling or grave countenances in the portraits referenced (see the Ashmolean portrait here and the British Museum print here). All portraits purported to be of Figg by Hogarth similarly depict a scowling man.

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