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Sir Alexander Gordon

5 of 7 portraits by John Henning

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sir Alexander Gordon

by John Henning
paste medallion, 1809
3 1/4 in. x 2 3/4 in. (83 mm x 70 mm) oval
Given by Francis Wellesley, 1917
Primary Collection
NPG 1801

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • John Henning (1771-1851), Sculptor. Artist or producer of 7 portraits, Sitter in 19 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 142
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 253
  • Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 221

Subject/Themeback to top

Events of 1809back to top

Current affairs

Duke of Portland resigns as Prime Minister to be succeeded by Spencer Perceval.
Motion for parliamentary reform is defeated in the House of Commons.
Notorious duel between George Canning and Viscount Castlereagh over strategic failures against Napoleon.

Art and science

Maria Edgeworth publishes Tales of Fashionable Life, a popular and perceptive series of stories exploring Anglo-Irish society after the Union.
Robert Smirke completes the New Covent Garden Theatre after fire. 'Old Price' theatre riots quickly break out against rising cost of admission.
Pall Mall in London is lit by gas for the first time.

International

British army lands in Lisbon and defeats the French at Talavera. Arthur Wellesley is created Viscount Wellington as a result of this victory.
Walcheren expedition led by General Chatham, which aimed to take Antwerp, fails amidst allegations of military corruption and carnage.
James Madison is elected President of the United States.

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Miss P. A. Thorpe

06 May 2018, 17:08

I wonder if this has been mistakenly attributed. The extended citation states 'Incised on truncation: HENNING F/1809.
A paper taken from the back and now in registered packet in NPG archive reads: Alexander Gordon brother to Mrs Pringle and below this, very indistinctly Henning wax modeller & medal maker Edinburgh.'
Sir Alexander Gordon KCB who was aide-de-camp to Wellington and brother to the 4th Earl of Aberdeen only had one sister, Alicia, who died unmarried.
The reference to Mrs. Pringle intrigued me and a web search brought up 'A General Description of the Shire of Renfrew: Including an Account of the Noble and Ancient Families' by George Crawfurd and George Robertson, printed by J. Nielson, Paisley 1818. This lists the children of John Gordon of Balmuir (died 1789) who include Alexander Gordon, a post captain in the Royal Navy and Mary Anne Gordon who married John Pringle, an agent of the East India Company at the Cape of Good Hope.
If this is a portrait medallion of Captain Alexander Gordon RN it would explain the affixed note. The image, with buttoned down lapels, also seems to resemble the pre-1812 naval uniform c.f. the portrait of Peter Parker by Hoppner (BHC2934) at the Royal Naval Museum, Greenwich.