'[Burke] on the sublime and beautiful'
17 of 59 portraits by Thomas Cornell
'[Burke] on the sublime and beautiful'
by James Sayers, published by Thomas Cornell
etching, published 6 April 1785
12 7/8 in. x 9 1/8 in. (328 mm x 232 mm) plate size; 13 7/8 in. x 10 in. (351 mm x 254 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1905
Reference Collection
NPG D12237
Sittersback to top
- Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Statesman; orator; author. Sitter associated with 107 portraits. Identify
- Thomas Powys, 1st Baron Lilford (1743-1800), Politician; High Sheriff of Northamptonshire. Sitter in 8 portraits. Identify
- John Sawbridge (1732?-1795), Lord Mayor of London. Sitter in 12 portraits. Identify
Artistsback to top
- Thomas Cornell (active 1780-1792). Artist or producer associated with 59 portraits.
- James Sayers (1748-1823), Artist. Artist or producer associated with 192 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.
Events of 1785back to top
Current affairs
George Prince of Wales secretly marries his mistress Maria Fitzherbert in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772.Prime Minister William Pitt introduces a bill proposing parliamentary reform and the abolition of 'rotten boroughs' but is defeated.
Art and science
William Cowper publishes his best -known poem The Task.James Boswell publishes The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, narrating his travels with the late writer Samuel Johnson.
Physician and naturalist James Hutton presents his studies of local rocks to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, launching the era of scientific geology.
International
Warren Hastings resigns as Governor-General of Bengal and returns to England. His trial begins on charges of corruption in the administration of India.French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon crosses the Atlantic to sculpt a statue of George Washington.
British government establishes a permanent land force in the Eastern Caribbean, based in Barbados.
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