Robert Bloomfield

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Buy a print Buy a greetings card Make a donation Close

Robert Bloomfield

by Henry Bone
watercolour and bodycolour on ivory, circa 1800
2 1/8 in. x 1 5/8 in. (54 mm x 41 mm) oval
Purchased, 1912
Primary Collection
NPG 1644

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Henry Bone (1755-1834), Enamel painter. Artist or producer associated with 677 portraits, Sitter in 6 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 61
  • Walker, Richard, Miniatures: 300 Years of the English Miniature, 1998, p. 95 Read entry

    Robert Bloomfield, farm labourer, shoemaker and always on the verge of penury, began to write poetry as an escape from the rigours of agricultural life in Bedfordshire. His Farmer's Boy (1800), relating the life of an orphan farm labourer, consists mostly of doggerel verse but has some lines of vivid poetic insight. It was praised by Byron but made Charles Lamb 'feel sick'. The romanticised miniature bears an inscription, probably added later, attributing the original portrait to Cosway.

  • Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 54

Subject/Themeback to top

Events of 1800back to top

Current affairs

Widespread food riots after poor harvests of 1798-9. Theorist, Thomas Malthus, controversially argues that poverty and food shortages are an inevitable consequence of population growth, challenging assumptions that populousness was a sign of national prosperity and power. His thesis contributed forcefully to the debate over the existing Poor Law.

Art and science

William Wordsworth publishes his Preface to the Lyrical Ballads; a retrospective explanation of his experimental poems written with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It becomes one of the best-known manifestos of Romantic literature.

International

Lord Castlereagh, Chief Secretary for Ireland, is the main architect of the Act of Union under which Ireland is merged with Great Britain and the Irish parliament is abolished.
British troops support successful uprising by Maltese against the French.
Napoleon is victorious against Austrians at Marengo and reconquers Italy.

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.