Sir Joseph Williamson

Inscriptionback to top

Inscribed, bottom left: Sr. Joseph Williamson.

This portraitback to top

NPG 1100 appears to be an 18th-century copy from the three-quarter-length portrait ‘in the manner of Lely’ of which there are two versions at Oxford, in Queen’s College [1] and the Bodleian Library, [2] both presented in the mid-eighteenth century. Another bust-length oval version, apparently copied from NPG 1100, is in the Hall of the Clothworkers’ Company, of whom Williamson was master 1675-77. [3]

Footnotesback to top

1) Mrs R. L. Poole, Catalogue of Portraits in the possession of the University, Colleges, City and County of Oxford, II, p 122, no.39, purchased 1751.
2) Inscribed bottom left. Mrs R. L. Poole, Catalogue of Portraits in the possession of the University, Colleges, City and County of Oxford, I, p 73, no.182; Catalogue of Portraits in the Bodleian Library by Mrs R .L. Poole completely revised and expanded by K. Garlick, 2004, p 337; presented to the University by Dr Joseph Smith, Provost of Queen’s College, 1754; engraved anon. A wash-drawing by T. Athow in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Sutherland collection, Burnet i, 324) was copied from the Bodley picture.
3) By Amy B. Atkinson 1899-1900 (D. E. Wickham, Clothworkers’ Hall Portraits, 1997, pp 168-69, no.84, illus.).

Referenceback to top

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 381.

Provenanceback to top

A. Whitcombe, Cheltenham Fine Arts Gallery, Cheltenham,¹ from whom purchased 1897.

¹ Who stated that it was by Lely and had descended through the sitter’s family. Probably the portrait sold anonymously, Christie’s, 25 July 1896, lot 92A (‘Sir P. Lely. Portrait of Sir Joseph Williamson’).

Exhibitionsback to top

Tercentenary Exhibition, Royal Society, Burlington House, 1960; Cumbrian Characters, Kendal, 1978; OUP Quincentenary Exhibition, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1978; Lyme Park 1996–.


This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685–1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, 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 Joseph Williamson