Early Life
Born in Wem, Shropshire, England, John Astley was a son of an apothecary, Richard Astley (1671 — 1754), and his wife, Margaret (1685 — 1735). Among his sibling was a brother Richard, also a physician, whose estate he inherited.
Due to his good looks, he was known as Beau Astley. Some period sources also call him Jack Astley. A biographer of Sir Joshua Reynolds described Astley as "a gasconading spendthrift and a beau of the flashiest order".
Several jaundiced contemporary accounts of Astley's character exist, notably a lengthy observation by John Williams, (aka Anthony Pasquin), who wrote: "He thought that every advantage in civil society was compounded in women and wine: and, acting up to this principal of bliss, he gave his body to Euphrosyne, and his intellects to madness. He was as ostentatious as the peacock and as amorous as the Persian Sophi ... he had a haram and a bath at the top of his house, replete with every enticement and blandishment to awaken desire; and thus lived, jocund and thoughtless, until his nerves were unstrung by age; when his spirits decayed with his animal powers, and he sighed and drooped into eternity!"
Read more about this topic: John Astley (painter)
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