| Description Of Item | Illustration from the collection of Alexander Morison. Plate 94 of Morison’s 'The Physiognomy of Mental Diseases' (1840). Unsigned [Alexander Johnston]. Adult sitter identified as 'WC' and boy on the left as 'JA', whose image also appears in archive reference DEP/MOR/4/209, and on plate 82.
'Portrait of W. C.; aged 34.
This poor fellow is of weak intellect, and subject to fits of epilepsy; he has a kind disposition, and takes a fatherly charge of two idiots, one nine and the other fifteen years old, both of whom seem fond of him. This view exhibits the mutual attachment that appears to exist between these unfortunate and helpless beings.' |