Sir William Molesworth, 8th Bt
5 of 41 portraits by Sir John Watson-Gordon
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- Extended catalogue entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Early Victorian Portraits Catalogue
Sir William Molesworth, 8th Bt
by Sir John Watson-Gordon
1854
50 in. x 40 in. (1270 mm x 1016 mm)
NPG 810
Inscriptionback to top
Signed and dated (middle right): Sir Jo Watson Gordon/R.A. and P.R.S.A. Pinxt/1854.
Inscribed on a label, formerly on the back of the stretcher: Portrait of Joseph Robinson/Pease Esqr. of Hesslewood E. York-/shire. Presented to him by his Friends and Neighbours-/By Sir John Watson Gordon
This portraitback to top
The portrait of Pease was exhibited at the RA in the same year as that of Molesworth. Presumably the labels on the back got muddled up. There is no doubt that the NPG portrait represents Molesworth.
Physical descriptionback to top
Healthy complexion, blue-grey eyes, brown hair. Dressed in a white shirt, black tie, light grey waistcoat with blue checks, silver monocle, gold watch-chain, fawn trousers, dark brown coat, holding a brown wooden walking stick, with gold mount at the top and a horn(?) handle. Seated in a red armchair, with a red and brown patterned table-cloth at right. Background colour, various tones of dark brown and green.
Exhibitionsback to top
RA, 1855 (281); SKM, 1868 (541).
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Ormond, Early Victorian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1973, 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 Sir William Molesworth, 8th Bt