Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Ancram
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Ancram
published by Silvester (Sylvester) Harding, after Jan Lievens
stipple engraving, published 1798
7 1/2 in. x 5 1/2 in. (189 mm x 139 mm) plate size
Given by the daughter of compiler William Fleming MD, Mary Elizabeth Stopford (née Fleming), 1931
Reference Collection
NPG D26668
Sitterback to top
- Robert Ker, 1st Earl of Ancram (1578-1654), Courtier and politician. Sitter in 1 portrait.
Artistsback to top
- Silvester (Sylvester) Harding (1745-1809), Artist; publisher. Artist or producer associated with 221 portraits.
- Jan Lievens (1607-1674), Painter. Artist or producer associated with 10 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.
Events of 1798back to top
Current affairs
To meet war costs, William Pitt introduces a Finance Bill which levies income tax for the first time.Art and science
William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge publish Lyrical Ballads; a key publication for the romantic movement in poetry. Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner opens the volume.Publisher and printseller Rudolph Ackermann establishes his popular 'Repository of the Arts' shop, gallery, library and social centre on the Strand.
International
Uprising of the United Irishmen: a republican rebellion which attempted to achieve Ireland's total independence by force with the aid of a French invasion. It was only narrowly defeated.Battle of the Nile. Napoleon's visionary Egyptian campaign offers British first major victory as Nelson destroys the French fleet.
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Robert Wenley
10 January 2020, 11:09
This image derives from a celebrated oil portrait of Sir Robert Kerr, Earl of Ancram in old age in 1654 by Jan Lievens (1607-1672), formerly at Newbattle Abbey, near Edinburgh, and now in the SNPG (PG3663). Ancram, who has claim to have brought to England the first painting(s) by Rembrandt to leave Holland (as a gift to Charles I), was the father of the 3rd Earl of Lothian, qv.