Charles Macklin
8 of 151 portraits by John Opie
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Charles Macklin
by John Opie
oil on canvas, circa 1792
35 3/4 in. x 27 3/4 in. (908 mm x 705 mm)
Purchased, 1902
Primary Collection
NPG 1319
Artistback to top
- John Opie (1761-1807), Portrait and history painter. Artist or producer associated with 151 portraits, Sitter in 13 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Possibly a damaged original by John Opie. The portrait is thought to have been painted for the antiquary, Rev. Edward Daniel Clarke, to whom Macklin remarked he ought to have been paid for lending his features. More detailed information on this portrait is available in a National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue, John Kerslake's Early Georgian Portraits (1977, out of print).
Linked publicationsback to top
- Kerslake, John, Early Georgian Portraits, 1977, p. 177
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 403
Events of 1792back to top
Current affairs
The famous seven year trial of Warren Hastings, Governor-General of Bengal, on charges of embezzlement and murder, ends with his acquittal. Pro-Revolutionary philosopher Joseph Priestley's house is destroyed by a mob on the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille. Their actions are later seen as a key moment in the defeat of Enlightenment ideals in England.Art and science
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; a radical work which called on women to be allies to one another; fearless in their support and free in their criticism.Sir Joshua Reynolds dies and is succeeded by Benjamin West as President of the Royal Academy.
International
The mob invades the Tuileries and the French Royal Family is imprisoned marking the end of France's experiment with constitutional monarchy and the declaration of the first French Republic.The Revolutionary Commune is established in Paris.
France declares war on Austria and then Prussia.
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