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Sir William Gell

1 of 3 portraits of Sir William Gell

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sir William Gell

by Cornelius Varley
pencil, 1816
19 3/4 in. x 13 5/8 in. (502 mm x 346 mm)
Purchased, 1976
Primary Collection
NPG 5086

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Cornelius Varley is best known for his landscape watercolours. For his portraits he used his 'Patent Graphic Telescope' (patented by him in 1811), a form of camera lucida, consisting of a simple arrangement of lenses which project an image on to a flat surface so that it can be easily traced. Typically he used pencil for these drawings of which this is an exceptionally powerful example.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Rogers, Malcolm, Master Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery, 1993 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 August to 23 October 1994), p. 95
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 240
  • Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 199

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1816back to top

Current affairs

Marriage of Princess Charlotte to Leopold I.
Income Tax abolished.
Unsuccessful Spa Fields Riot led by the ultra-radical Arthur Thistlewood which aimed to attack the Tower of London and the Bank of England and set up a ruling 'Committee of Public Safety' following the French model.

Art and science

Jane Austen publishes Emma.
Leeds and Liverpool Canal completed.

International

British Government buys the Elgin Marbles, taken from the Acropolis in Athens by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, and brought to England between 1803 and 1812. Their acquisition prompts support from Thomas Lawrence and Benjamin Robert Haydon and condemnation from Lord Byron.
Slave rebellion fails in Barbados; four hundred slaves are executed.

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