'Interview between Lady Jane Grey and Dr Roger Ascham in the Year 1550'

1 portrait by Henri Jean-Baptiste Victoire Fradelle

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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'Interview between Lady Jane Grey and Dr Roger Ascham in the Year 1550'

by William Say, after Henri Jean-Baptiste Victoire Fradelle
mezzotint, published 1825
15 5/8 in. x 19 3/8 in. (398 mm x 492 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D7387

Sittersback to top

  • Roger Ascham (1515-1568), Author and tutor to Elizabeth I (when Princess Elizabeth). Sitter in 4 portraits.
  • Lady Jane Dudley (née Grey) (1537-1554), Proclaimed Queen 1553. Sitter associated with 57 portraits.

Artistsback to top

  • Henri Jean-Baptiste Victoire Fradelle (1778-1865), Historical genre painter. Artist or producer associated with 14 portraits.
  • William Say (1768-1834), Mezzotint engraver. Artist or producer associated with 261 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

This portraitback to top

This print illustrates an episode recounted in Roger Ascham's treatise on education, The Scholemaster (1570). In 1550, the royal tutor Ascham visited Lady Jane and found her reading Plato's Phaedo in Greek while the rest of the household were out hunting. Ascham contrasted the joy that this 'sweet and noble' girl took in learning with her fear of her cruel parents. In the nineteenth century, Lady Jane's reputation as a gentle and modest scholar made her a preferred role model for the education of girls.

Placesback to top

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1825back to top

Current affairs

Strikes, contract breaking and worker intimidation prompt the passing of a new Anti-Trade Union Combination Act to the dismay of economist John McCulloch, MP Joseph Hume and radical Francis Place who had worked for the repeal of the previous year.
Catholic Relief Bill is rejected by the House of Lords.

Art and science

Construction of Thames Tunnel begins under the direction of Marc Isambard Brunel.
Stockton to Darlington Railway, the world's first passenger system, opens.
William Hazlitt publishes The Spirit of the Age; twenty-five pen-portraits of his contemporaries in the world of literature, philosophy and politics.

International

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premieres in London.
John Quincy Adams is elected President of the United States.

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