John Hall

This portraitback to top

A note in a MS history of the Hall family compiled in 1900 recounts:

'This crayon drawing ... was the work, according to tradition, of William Laurenson, a personal friend of Hall, and was executed between the years 1770 and 1780 when the subject was about 38 years old.' [1]
It goes on to point out that Lawranson drew crayon portraits of Sarah Gilles (Hall’s sister-in-law), besides Benjamin West and Woollett (see NPG 693) ‘& other celebrities in the world of Art’.

Footnotesback to top

1) The volume, compiled by W. J. Grubbe in 1900, remains in a private collection; a subsequent, but less convincing, note suggests that the portrait may have been by Richard [sic] Cotes RA, Laurenson’s master [sic].

Physical descriptionback to top

Brown eyes, grey powdered hair, wearing a lace neckcloth, a blue coat with silver trim and a silver waistcoat; within a drawn oval.

Provenanceback to top

By descent through the sitter’s son, Dr G. W. Hall, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, to the sitter’s great-great-granddaughter, Miss J. M. Grubbe of Blythburgh [later Mrs Hubbard], by whom presented 1956.<sup>1

1</sup> The provenance is additionally borne out by the early 19th century label formerly on the verso: John Hall, Engraver born Decr 21/1740 died April 7 - 1797./There is a portrait of him painted/by Stuart, in the Boydell/Gallery, and by the account in the family history.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for John Hall