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Keeping Dr. Johnson's cat alive — and well-fed
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The sculptor Jon Bickley (at right) with
the Lord Mayor of London (left) and Lord Harmsworth at the 1997 installation of
Hodge outside Johnsons house.
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He did not suffer fools gladly, but Samuel Johnson, the formidable writer of the
immortalDictionary of the English Language of 1755, was a fool for his
beloved cat Hodge. He was even known to feed his feline friend oysters, which Johnson
himself and not his house staff would fetch
from the local market.
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Both cat and oyster have been preserved for posterity by Jon Bickley, an award-winning
English sculptor and a lover of cats, dogs, elephants and just about every other
four-footed creature.
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Thomas Henry, Jon's cat,
served as the model for Hodge.
Johnson once described Hodge as
"a very fine cat indeed."
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An Honours graduate of the Norwich (England) School of Art and Design, Jon worked
as a zookeeper before becoming a full-time sculptor 17 years ago. Not surprising,
then, that his studio (a sixteenth-century barn) is often filled with animals in
various states of bronze casting. Many eventually find their way to art galleries
and private gardens around London, throughout Britain and in Europe.
The
Hodge Bookends that Levenger commissioned are a replica of the version of
Hodge that Jon sculpted for Johnsons house in Gough Square, off Fleet Street in
London. Visitors find Hodge sitting patiently atop a bronze version of the Dictionary.
"It seems Dr. Johnson and I were meant to come together," Jon says. "He was born
in Lichfield, in the Midlands, and I was brought up just outside it. I can close
my eyes and picture his birth house." In sculpting Hodge, Jon had a model—his
own cat, named Thomas Henry—and a hunch that eighteenth-century cats, even
if doted on, did not have the easiest of lives. Like Johnson, he was determined
to find an
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The
Levenger Bookends are finished in
the same bronze coloring as the original statue
and feature one of Hodges much-loved oysters.
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oyster for his Hodge. It had to be a proper English oyster, though, and you cant
buy them in the shops anymore, Jon says. So he made a special trip to the beach
to find his quarry.
The Lord Mayor of London was among the titled gentry on hand for Hodges installation
in Gough Square. Unveiled in 1997, the bronze met the City of Londons goal of having
a statue that visitors could connect with and would be drawn to.
"I made Hodge about shoulder height for the average adult, Jon explains, which is
just about right for putting an arm around." This is one cat that never minds a
good stroking.
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