8 OF 35

Horace Walpole

8 of 35 portraits on display in Room 12 at the National Portrait Gallery

Horace Walpole

by Sir Joshua Reynolds
oil on canvas, circa 1756-1757
50 1/8 in. x 40 1/8 in. (1272 mm x 1018 mm)
Purchased with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Art Fund and the Dame Helen Gardner Bequest, 1999
Primary Collection
NPG 6520

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Sitterback to top

Horatio ('Horace') Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (1717-1797), Writer and collector. Sitter associated with 20 portraits.

Artistback to top

Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Painter and first President of the Royal Academy. Artist associated with 1413 portraits, Sitter associated with 38 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This portrait by Reynolds was given by the sitter to Grosvenor Bedford, Walpole's deputy at the Exchequer. One contemporary observer described the portrait as 'very like' but 'a little too plump'; another noted how Walpole had a complexion of 'a most unhealthy paleness', though the portrait's pallor may be due in part to Reynolds's notorious use of fugitive pigments. Walpole is shown with a print of the ancient Roman marble eagle he had acquired in 1745.