John Joseph Merlin

Born in Belgium, John Joseph Merlin (1735–1803) was an inventor who worked in London for the clockmaker John Cox before opening Merlin's Mechanical Museum. Along with inventing a type of roller skate and wheelchair (known as the "gouty chair"), Merlin invented musical instruments like the compound harpsicord. Gainsborough likely gave this portrait in exchange for something musical from Merlin, and it may have hung for some time in Merlin's museum. Contemporary accounts referred disparagingly to the eccentric, foreign-born Merlin as "a ridiculous creature," but Gainsborough presents him as a gentleman in a powdered wig, jacket with lace cuffs, fur-lined waistcoat, and with a jeweled brooch at his cravat. One hand tucks into his waistcoat in the pose of a gentleman, and the other suspends by a green thread from his finger the single clue to his remarkable livelihood: his invention known as Merlin's Scales for Gold Coin, which was marketed to protect men from being deceived by compromised or counterfeit coins.