Sir William Gell
1 portrait
Sir William Gell
by Cornelius Varley
pencil, 1816
19 3/4 in. x 13 5/8 in. (502 mm x 346 mm)
Purchased, 1976
Primary Collection
NPG 5086
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This portraitback to top
Cornelius Varley is best known for his landscape watercolours. For his portraits he used his 'Patent Graphic Telescope' (patented by him in 1811), a form of camera lucida, consisting of a simple arrangement of lenses which project an image on to a flat surface so that it can be easily traced. Typically he used pencil for these drawings of which this is an exceptionally powerful example.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Rogers, Malcolm, Master Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery, 1993 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 August to 23 October 1994), p. 95
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 240
- Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 199
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