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Drawing, chalk, portrait, William Hazlitt, by William
Bewick, 1824.
Shows Hazlitt facing left.
William Bewick later remembered Hazlitt's approval of this
portrait: 'He [Hazlitt] frequently laid down his knife and
fork to contemplate the likeness, gazing earnestly and long,
asking if really his own hair was anything like that of the
drawing. Mrs. Hazlitt exclaimed, 'Oh! it is exactly your own
hair, my dear.' With which he seemed quite satisfied, and in
great admiration of what I had done, said, 'Well, surely
that puts me in mind of some of Raphael's heads in the
cartoons. Ah! it is, however, something to live for, to have
such a head as that.' He contemplated the representation of
himself for some time in silence, with evident expressions
of satisfaction, not unmixed with some natural emotion of
vanity, which in him was neutralised by the genuine
simplicity of his character.
There are three versions of this drawing - at the National
Portrait Gallery, London, at the Maidstone Museum, and this.
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