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Mezzotint reproductions by Samuel William Reynolds after six portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds

4 of 4 portraits of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough

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© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Mezzotint reproductions by Samuel William Reynolds after six portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds

by Samuel William Reynolds, after Sir Joshua Reynolds
mezzotint, 1838
9 in. x 6 1/2 in. (229 mm x 164 mm) plate size; 11 1/4 in. x 8 5/8 in. (285 mm x 220 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D1237

Artistsback to top

  • Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Painter and first President of the Royal Academy. Artist or producer associated with 1424 portraits, Sitter associated with 39 portraits.
  • Samuel William Reynolds (1773-1835), Mezzotint engraver and painter. Artist or producer associated with 637 portraits, Sitter in 3 portraits.

Sittersback to top

Events of 1838back to top

Current affairs

The Anti-Corn Law league is established in Manchester, led by Richard Cobden and John Bright, aiming to create a fully free-trade economy.
The People's Charter is published, demanding many constitutional amendments that would become central to future democratic reform, including universal male suffrage and secret ballots. Despite having one million signatures (and 5 million by 1848), the petition was rejected.
Slavery is completely abolished.

Art and science

Turner's The Fighting Temeraire is exhibited at the Royal Academy. The Temeraire, which had broken the line at the Battle of Trafalgar, was a reflection on the rapid changes of the industrial age. This was demonstrated this year when Isambard Brunel's Great Western crosses the Atlantic, in just fifteen days - a ship under sail could take a month.
The London-Birmingham railway is also completed, the line engineered by Robert Stephenson.

International

The first stage in the formation of independent Boer republics in South Africa, as the Republic of Natal is formed in South Africa, following the Boers defeat of the Matabele of Mzilikasi. This comes two years after the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the British-ruled colony of South Africa set out on the Great Trek, in search of their own independent state.
The Central American Federation, an experimental republic formed of several Latin states splits.

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