James Wolfe
2 of 12 portraits by John Stone Clifford Schaack (Shaak)
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
James Wolfe
attributed to John Stone Clifford Schaack (Shaak)
oil on canvas, circa 1767
20 3/4 in. x 17 in. (527 mm x 432 mm)
Given by Leopold I, King of the Belgians, 1858
Primary Collection
NPG 48
Sitterback to top
- James Wolfe (1727-1759), General; conqueror of Quebec. Sitter associated with 26 portraits.
Artistback to top
- John Stone Clifford Schaack (Shaak) (baptised 1732-active 1770), Artist. Artist or producer associated with 12 portraits.
This portraitback to top
As the eighteenth-century's most moving hero there was a huge demand for images commemorating Wolfe and his dramatic death. Few have any claim to authentic likeness but their production, exhibition and reproduction helped to increase Wolfe's heroic status. 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. 315
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 674
Events of 1767back to top
Current affairs
Birth of Prince Edward, fourth son of George III and father of Queen Victoria.Chancellor, Charles Townshend, passes a series of acts - the 'Townshend Duties' - taxing all glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported into the American colonies.
Work begins on Edinburgh's New Town, to the design of the 23-year-old architect James Craig.
Art and science
Josiah Spode establishes the Spode pottery manufactory at Stoke-on-Trent.Philosopher and chemist Joseph Priestley publishes The History and Present State of Electricity.
First annual Nautical Almanac is produced by Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne, allowing mariners to find their longitude while at sea, using tables of lunar distances.
International
'Townshend Duties' cause uproar in America.First Anglo-Mysore War breaks out between between the Sultanate of Mysore Hyder Ali and the East India Company.
Jesuits are expelled from Spain.
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon complete a four-year survey to establish the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland; the Mason-Dixon line.
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