John Hoppner, 'Sir George Beaumont', 1803
About the work
Overview
Sir George Beaumont (1753–1827), the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â’s first great benefactor, is portrayed here at the age of 50. He is dressed in black with a glimpse of white waistcoat showing above a white stock against a plain crimson background. The restricted colour palette adds to the portrait’s drama.
Beaumont built up a relatively small but well-chosen collection of paintings, chiefly by Italian, French and Dutch masters and was instrumental in the foundation of the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â. He told the government that if they bought the collection of Sir John Julius Angerstein, he would donate 16 paintings from his own collection ‘whenever the Gallery about to be erected is ready to receive them’. In 1824, the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â opened to the public and in 1826 Beaumont’s paintings hung there with Angerstein’s.
Hoppner painted this portrait in 1803 and exhibited it at the Royal Academy in 1809, the last year of his life.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Sir George Beaumont
- Artist
- John Hoppner
- Artist dates
- 1758 - 1810
- Date made
- 1803
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 77.5 × 63.9 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bequeathed by Claude Dickason Rotch (1878 - 1961), 1962
- Inventory number
- NG6333
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Subjects
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Judy Egerton, ‘ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Catalogues: The British Paintings’, London 2000; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1965ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â: June 1962 - December 1964, London 1965
-
2000Egerton, Judy, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Catalogues: The British Paintings, revised edn, London 2000
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the ÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Library.