Sir William Hamilton

1 portrait matching these criteria:

- subject matching 'Reading'

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sir William Hamilton

by Sir Joshua Reynolds
oil on canvas, 1777
100 1/2 in. x 69 in. (2553 mm x 1752 mm)
Transferred from Tate Gallery, 1957
Primary Collection
NPG 680

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Painter and first President of the Royal Academy. Artist or producer associated with 1425 portraits, Sitter associated with 40 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Hamilton holds the first volume of a lavishly illustrated series by D'Hancarville that celebrates his achievements as a collector. It is open at a plate that bears a Greek dedication to him. Some of his antiquities that he gave to the British Museum are shown beside him.

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Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1777back to top

Current affairs

Trent and Mersey Canal is completed under the supervision of engineer James Brindley.
Philanthropist and reformer John Howard publishes his study The State of the Prisons in England and Wales.

Art and science

Artist James Barry begins his monumental series of paintings The Progress of Human Culture for the Great Room of the Society of Arts in London. He completes it in 1783.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's second play, The School for Scandal, is an immediate success in London's Drury Lane Theatre.
Entrepreneur William Bass establishes the Bass Brewery at Burton upon Trent.

International

American War of Independence: George Washington, heavily defeated at the Battle of Brandywine, is forced to relinquish Philadelphia to the British under General William Howe. At the two Battles of Saratoga only weeks later General John Burgoyne is forced to surrender to the Americans, marking a turning point in the war. The Continental Congress agrees the final version of the Articles of Confederation, defining the terms on which states join the Union.

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