Tonsor ego - Tonsoris opem si forte requiras […] Si male, tolle obolum: si bene - plura refer Portrait of Robert ('Bob') Foster who was known locally as the "Flying Barber"
Printmaker:
Baldrey, Joshua Kirby
Draughtsman:
Rev. James Bearblock
(After)
Etching on laid paper. A man seated on a chair with a long linen sheet tied around his chin to the left. To the right, a slender man in wig and frock coat stands astride him, his left hand lifting up the man's chin and his right arm held aloft with a razor held open in his hand. Within an etched rectangular border. Etched onto the plate below the border at lower right: 'JKBaldrey Sculp.t'. A verse in latin etched on the plate below: 'Tonsor ego - Tonsoris opem si forte requiras, / Mappa subest - ardet Culter - et Unda tepet, / Des nummos - uno tibi Barba evanuit ictu, / Si male, tolle obolum: si bene - plura refer.' The publication date, place and printmaker etched below: 'Pub.d Feb.y 23.1785. by JKBaldrey, Cambridge'. The print is trimmed to the platemark and laid down on a larger sheet of paper, onto which is written in brown ink: 'Bob Foister vulgo the flying Barber / shaving Dick Robert's Fellow of Kings / they are equally good likenesses designed / by Rev.d J. Bearblock of King's Cambridge'. The design was later engraved with more background detail and published by W. Mason with the title: 'Bob Foster, The Cambridge Flying Barber'. See British Museum (BM), 1851,0308.276. See also BM, J,2.34, which is a companion to the earlier barbering scene after Bearblock (also etched by Baldrey and published on the same date) and features Foster hurrying along carrying his barber's equipment (ref. George, 6834).
Unknown
by unknown
18th Century
Production date:
AD 1785-02-23
Height 148mm (cut to platemark) x width 99mm (cut to platemark)
Accession number: P.14874-R
Primary reference Number: 225484
Stephens/George: 6835
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Paintings, Drawings and Prints
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|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-05-10 01:49:11|publisher=The
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