Early Georgian Portraits Catalogue: Mitchell
Sir Andrew Mitchell (1708-71)
Diplomat; educated at Edinburgh and Leyden; barrister Middle Temple, 1738; under-secretary of state for Scotland, 1741-47; MP for Aberdeenshire, 1747, and Elgin burghs, 1755 and 1761; envoy, 1756, to Frederick the Great whom he accompanied during the Seven Years' War; KB,1765; died in Berlin.
2514 After a portrait by Allan Ramsay of 1766
Oil on canvas, 30 ½ x 25 in. (775 x 636 mm); blue eyes, light brown eyebrows, florid complexion, white wig; mantle and collar of Bath over coat with gold-embroidered sleeve, lace cravat; black-brown background.
NPG 2514 is a copy after the portrait by Allan Ramsay, signed and dated 1766, in the collection, 1949, of H.N. Mitchell, formerly owned by the Barons Sempill. A replica, without date or signature, is in the collection of the Earls of Seafield. The modelling of the face and detail in, for example, the Bath star and the wide cuff have been lost in NPG 2514.
Condition: retouchings to area below the sitter's chin, Bath star and to the right of his shoulder.
Collections: bought, 1931, from J. Forbes-Gower; owned, 1850, by Duncan Forbes Mitchell of Thainston, the sitter having married his cousin Barbara Mitchell, heiress to the lands of Thainston in Aberdeenshire; thence by descent.
Engraved: By R. Young, published as frontispiece to Memoirs and Papers of Sir Andrew Mitchell, K.B., by A. Bisset, 1850.
Exhibited: 'Historical Portraits', Aberdeen, 1858 (90).
Appearance
'A man strongly built and rather above the middle height, taking in his manners, though bluntish . . . his countenance is that of a bold, open, straightforward, and withal most sagacious man. It is somewhat broad and bluff . . . the strongly-marked nose, the massive chin, and firm full lips, as well as the well-opened clear blue eyes . . . altogether are expressive of the . . . quiet resolution, the silent unobtrusive courage which formed the character of the man.' [1]
Iconography
Ramsay's is the only recorded likeness. A portrait called Sir Andrew Mitchell purchased for the Gallery, Christie's, 13 July 1928, lot 56, proved incorrectly named. It was sold in December 1931 to A. Mitchell-Innes of Bedford.