Anna Seward
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Anna Seward
by Tilly Kettle
oil on canvas, 1762
29 in. x 24 1/2 in. (737 mm x 622 mm)
Purchased, 1924
Primary Collection
NPG 2017
On display in Room 18 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery
Artistback to top
- Tilly Kettle (1735-1786), Painter. Artist or producer associated with 20 portraits.
This portraitback to top
She is seen is this portrait holding a book whose pages are headed 'Milton'.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Eger, Elizabeth; Peltz, Lucy, Brilliant Women: 18th Century Bluestockings, 2008 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 13 March to 15 June 2008), p. 47 Read entry
Anna Seward, known as the 'Swan of Lichfield', remained in Lichfield all her life, unlike her fellow townsfolk Samuel Johnson and David Garrick, who sought fame in London. Her provincial salon was frequented by several important members of the Midlands Englightenment, including Erasmus Darwin, whose Memoirs she wrote. Tilly Kettle has depicted Seward reading Milton, her favourite poet.
- Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 423
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 556
- Uglow, Jenny, Character Sketches: Dr Johnson, His Club and Other Friends, 1998, p. 18
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Brilliant Women: 18th-Century Bluestockings (13 March 2008 - 15 June 2008)
Events of 1762back to top
Current affairs
Birth of George, Prince of Wales (later George IV) on 12 August.Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle resigns as Prime Minister over foreign policy and is succeeded by the Tory John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. Many of Newcastle's followers are dismissed over the following months in what becomes popularly known as the 'Massacre of the Pelhamite Innocents'.
'Cock Lane ghost' appears in Smithfield, London.
Art and science
James MacPherson publishes Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem, said to be the work of the third century Scottish bard Ossian, initiating the greatest literary hoax of the century.Sign-Painters Exhibition is organised in London by Bonnell Thornton to ridicule recently established public art exhibitions.
Artist William Hogarth publishes The Times Plate 1; an anti-war satire.
International
Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau publishes his major works The Social Contract and Emile; influential treatises on society and education. Peter III of Russia is reputedly assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his wife Catherine, who succeeds him to the throne as Catherine II (later the Great).Seven Years' War: The British commander John Manners Marquess of Granby distinguishes himself at the Battle of Manila.
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