There are two Jonathan Richardsons – Jonathan Richardson the Elder, 1667-1745, and Jonathan Richardson the Younger, 1694-1771, his son. Only the son is buried in St George’s Gardens but both lived in Bloomsbury and their stories are so intermingled that they have to be told together.

This will be the seventh Bloomsbury Festival unearthing for the Friends of St George’s Gardens.

Jonathan Richardson the Elder was a successful portrait painter who wanted his son to live as a gentleman. He used material brought back from his son’s Grand Tour of Italy in 1720 to write a best seller guidebook on Italian artworks. The Richardsons subsequently collaborated on other influential publications on art theory, while the son built a large collection of old master drawings.
Jonathan the Elder painted his son frequently so we can start to imagine what he was like. A 1734 portrait in the Tate Gallery shows him relaxing languidly in his study, without his wig, wearing a red silk dressing gown, red slippers, white lace shirt cuffs just showing.

Our actors, Jules Date and Debbie Radcliffe, will bring him back to life.