"Before breakfast, Johnson came up to my room to forbid me to mention that this was his birthday; but I told him I had done it already." ↳ A very happy birthday to Dr. Samuel Johnson, who was born on the 18th of September, 1709! ↳ The art is in reference to Johnson's birthday in 1777, his 68th. On this specific day, he had been in the town of Ashbourne alongside his close friend, James Boswell, and they were staying at the house of John Taylor, a lawyer. Being wealthy, Taylor had a large chandelier over his dining room, which Johnson was seen to admire very much - therefore, the night before his birthday, Boswell asked if it could be lit. Johnson, characteristically, was mortified by his birthday being mentioned, but apparently enjoyed the chandelier very much. ↳ Fun Fact: Samuel Johnson actually has two birthdays! He was born on the 7th of September, 1709; however, in 1752, to fix discrepancies, Britain changed from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar. This new one was 11 days ahead, and, therefore, every date was pushed ahead - and with this, Samuel Johnson's birthday became the 18th. ↳ I did some research for this project, and mainly used Robert Sherlock's "Chandeliers in Suffolk Churches," from the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology. What you can see here is a chandelier of mainly an English 17th-Century style (the sturdy, flat design), with a bit of Dutch influence (the flairs of the points). ↳ You can extinguish the candles, but why on earth would you do that?! ↳ This is my first experiment with metal-based shading! How did I do? (Tips would be appreciated.)
↳ The design and colour of the chandelier is entirely by me; however, I was inspired by two chandeliers from Suffolk! (See above) The first is from Holbrook, unfortunately with no known artist, and the second from Framlingham, crafted in 1742 by London artist John Giles. ✦ I acquired the background audio from Pixabay, at pixabay.com . It is free for public usage under Creative Commons License Zero (CC0). (I actually added in some brown noise, just for the vibe.) ✦ Text from cooltext.com ; the first is "St. Marie," and the second is "Caligrafitti." Both found under Creative Commons Licenses. ✦ All art and code by me! #!
