View source for John Kay (caricaturist)

{{Short description|British artist (1742–1826)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
[[File:John Kay by John Kay (2).jpg|thumb|1786 [[self-portrait]] of Kay]]
[[File:AdamSmith1790b.jpg|right|thumb|1790 portrait of [[Adam Smith]] by Kay]]
[[File:John Kay memorial stone.JPG|thumb|A memorial stone to Kay in [[Greyfriars Kirkyard]]]]

'''John Kay''' (1742 &ndash; 21 February 1826) was a Scottish caricaturist and engraver.<ref name="Bryant">{{cite book|last1=Bryant|first1=Mark|title=Dictionary of British Cartoonists and Caricaturists, 1730-198|date=1994|publisher=Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd|location=London, England| page=129|  isbn=978-0859679763}}</ref>

==Life==

John Kay was born in April 1742 in Gibraltar Cottage just south of [[Dalkeith]], [[Scotland]], where his father, John Kay, worked as a mason. His mother, Helen Alexander, owned several properties in Edinburgh and the [[Canongate]] and was relatively wealthy. When his father died in 1748, John was sent to live in [[Leith]], the harbour area of Edinburgh, with some of her relatives, who treated him very badly. At age 13 he returned to Dalkeith where he was apprenticed to George Heriot, a [[barber]] in the town, whom he served for six years.<ref>Kay's Originals vol.1 p.2</ref>

In 1761 he went to [[Edinburgh]], where he served 7 years as a journeyman but not being an Edinburgh citizen had to purchase the freedom to trade as a barber from the Society of Surgeon-Barbers, which he eventually did in December 1771 at age 29, on payment of £40. He then set up business on the High Street in Edinburgh. He had several high ranking clients and made friends with several, notably William Nisbet of [[Dirleton]] who became a constant companion.<ref>Kay's Originals vol.1 p.2</ref>

In 1784 he began engraving his drawings and published his first caricature: James Robertson of Kincraigie, "the daft highland laird".<ref>{{cite book|last=Chambers|first=Robert|title=Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen|year=1874–1875|publisher=Blackie & Son|location=Glasgow|page=415|url=http://digital.nls.uk/74513244|editor=Thomas Thomson}}</ref> In 1785, induced by the favour which greeted certain attempts of his to etch in aquafortis, he took down his barber's pole and opened a small print shop in [[Parliament Square, Edinburgh|Parliament Close]]. There he continued to flourish, painting miniatures, and publishing at short intervals his sketches and caricatures of local celebrities and oddities, who abounded at that period in Edinburgh society. From 1785 he abandoned his business as barber to concentrate on drawing. This was facilitated by annuities paid to him by Sir [[Henry Jardine]] and the estate of William Nisbet.<ref>Kay's Originals vol.1 p.2</ref>

Kay's portraits were collected by Hugh Paton and published under the title ''A series of original portraits and caricature etchings by the late John Kay, with biographical sketches and illustrative anecdotes'' (Edinburgh, 2 vols. 4to, 1838; 8vo ed., 4 vols., 1842; new 4to ed., with additional plates, 2 vols., 1877), forming a unique record of the social life and popular habits of Edinburgh at its most interesting epoch. Kay's famous shop on the [[Royal Mile]] was destroyed during the [[Great Edinburgh Fire]] of November 1824.<ref>Grant's Old and New Edinburgh</ref> 

He died at 227 High Street in Edinburgh and was buried at the north-west corner of [[Greyfriars Kirkyard]]. The British Museum has extensive holdings of his works, including two albums apparently assembled by Kay,<ref>{{Cite web | title=Kay's Caricatures |  url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=119254}} (1) 159.b.23/4 with 343 plates &
(2) 298* a.8 with 205 plates</ref> both described in the [[Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum]]<ref name="DorothyGeorge">{{cite book|last1=George| first1=M Dorothy |title='Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum |publisher=The British Museum| date=1870–1954| location=London}}</ref>

==Family==

In 1762 he married Lilly Steven by whom he had ten children all of which died young except for one son, William Kay. Lilly died in 1785 and in 1787 Kay married Margaret Scott (d.1835).<ref>Kay's Originals vol.1 p.2</ref>

==Some persons caricatured by Kay==
* [[Hugo Arnot]]
* [[Joseph Black]]
* [[Hugh Blair]]
* [[Claud Irvine Boswell]]
* [[John Brown (physician, born 1735)|John Brown]]
* [[James Burnett, Lord Monboddo]]
* [[Charles Byrne (giant)|Charles Byrne]]
* [[Alexander Carlyle]]
* [[James Donaldson (publisher)|James Donaldson]]
* [[Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville]]
* [[Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville]]
* [[Alexander Gerard]]
* [[Alexander Gordon, Lord Rockville]]
* [[John Grieve (Lord Provost)]]
* [[William Grinly|William "Spread Eagle" Grinly]]
* [[Francis Grose]]
* [[Henry Home, Lord Kames]]
* [[Sir Archibald Hope, 9th Baronet]]
* [[John Hope (botanist)|John Hope]]
* [[James Hutton]]
* [[Thomas Jefferson]]
* [[Vincenzo Lunardi]]
* [[Sam McDonald]]
* [[William Nairne, Lord Dunsinane]]
* [[George Paton (bibliographer)|George Paton]]
* [[William Robertson (historian)|William Robertson]]
* [[Sarah Siddons]]
* [[Adam Smith]]
* [[Peter Williamson (Indian Peter)]]
* [[Alexander Wood (surgeon)|Alexander ("Lang Sandy") Wood]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Evans, Hilary & Evans, Mary (1981), ''John Kay of Edinburgh'', Paul Harris, {{isbn|9780901311283}}
* Moffat. Sandy (1981), review of ''John Kay of Edinburgh'' by Hilary & Mary Evans, in Murray, Glen (ed.), ''[[Cencrastus]]'' No.6, Autumn 1981, pp. 43 & 44

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [http://edinburghbookshelf.org.uk/volume8/ The complete two volumes of John Kay's Originals with searchable text and images] and [http://edinburghbookshelf.org.uk/volume9/ Volume 2]
* [http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd132681838.html John Kay] (''Deutsche Biographie'')

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kay, John}}
[[Category:1742 births]]
[[Category:1826 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Midlothian]]
[[Category:18th-century English engravers]]
[[Category:19th-century British engravers]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish male artists]]
[[Category:Scottish caricaturists]]
[[Category:Scottish engravers]]
[[Category:Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard]]


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