Early Georgian Portraits Catalogue: Chubb

Thomas Chubb (1679-1747)

Philosopher and theologian; tallow-chandler and glove-maker, self-educated, patronised by many prominent men; Voltaire commended him and Pope called him 'a wonderful phenomen of Wiltshire'; published The Supremacy of the Father Asserted, 1715, and among numerous other works and tracts Discourse concerning Reason and The True Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1122
By George Beare, 1747
Oil on canvas, 29 3/4 x 24 1/2 in. (756 x 622 mm); blue-grey eyes, broad, plump face, short neck, white wig; red kerchief spread out at his throat, drab coat, unbuttoned, and waistcoat; hands holding a quill; on a table, right, an open book on a stand, a bottle of ink and two folios behind; [1] dark brown background, lit from the left.

Signed diagonally on the table cloth, right, Geo Beare Pinxit/ 1747.

A version, also signed and dated 1747, belongs to the Salisbury Corporation. [2] Chubb died 8 February 1747. NPG 1122 is likely to be posthumous.

Condition: lined, cleaned and restored, 1898.

Collections: bought, 1898, from the collection of the Rev. F.O. White of Barnsbury.

Engraved: by G. Bockman, 1747, and by W. Bent, 1786.

Notes

1. Bockman's engraving shows an inscription Chubbs Tracts.
2. Reproduced C. Haskins, Salisbury Corporation Pictures, Salisbury, 1910, opposite p.126; exh. 'Painters of Wessex', Bournemouth, 1962 (6).