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Unknown man called Thomas Chatterton

1 of 2 portraits by Raphael Lamar West

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Unknown man called Thomas Chatterton

by Francesco Bartolozzi, after Raphael Lamar West
engraving, 1801
4 1/2 in. x 5 5/8 in. (113 mm x 142 mm) paper size
Reference Collection
NPG D1372

Sitterback to top

Artistsback to top

  • Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815), Engraver. Artist or producer associated with 165 portraits, Sitter in 16 portraits.
  • Raphael Lamar West (1769-1850), Artist; son of Benjamin West. Artist or producer associated with 2 portraits, Sitter in 3 portraits.

Events of 1801back to top

Current affairs

Wlliam Pitt and Lord Castlereagh both resign over the King's refusal to permit the introduction of Catholic emancipation. Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth succeeds Pitt as Prime Minister.
Census records 9 million people living in England and Wales, 5.2 million in Ireland and 1.6 million in Scotland.

Art and science

Radical writer, Amelia Opie publishes her best known novel The Father and the Daughter. Said to have reduced Walter Scott to tears, it went on to enjoy success as an opera and a play.

International

Other members of the First Coalition fighting France with Britain agree to a humiliating peace treaty and Britain fights on alone.
A successful campaign is fought against the French army marooned in Egypt. General Sir Ralph Abercromby leads the troops but is killed in action.
Thomas Jefferson is elected President of the United States.

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George Catcott

04 January 2020, 12:35

Not convinced this was originally meant to be portrait of Chatterton. Other copies of this engraving do not mention Chatterton, including my own copy, which is in Leigh Hunt's Juvenalia, and the copy in the British Museum. The NPG copy is from Juvenalia and has two lines from Hunt's poem 'Retirement.' The engraving faces p.33, the last two lines on that page are the same as the two lines on the engraving. It seems that the engraving only becomes a portrait of Chatterton by the addition of the handwritten annotation by some unknown hand on the NPG copy. I would love to know where the original painting by Raphael Lamar West is and the date it was painted, also what title West gave the painting.