Sir Elijah Impey
2 of 3 portraits of Sir Elijah Impey
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Sir Elijah Impey
by Sir Thomas Lawrence
pastel, 1786
12 3/4 in. x 10 7/8 in. (324 mm x 275 mm) oval
Given by William Hartree and family, 1889
Primary Collection
NPG 821
Artistback to top
- Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), Portrait painter, collector and President of the Royal Academy. Artist or producer associated with 698 portraits, Sitter in 25 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Inscribed by the sixteen year old artist, be pleased to keep this from the Sun and Damp.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Pickpocketing the rich : portrait painting in Bath 1720-1800, 2002 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Holburne Museum of Art, Bath, 25 June - 15 Sept. 2002), p. 86 number 56
- Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 281
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 325
Events of 1786back to top
Current affairs
Philosopher and politician Edmund Burke instigates impeachment proceedings against Warren Hastings, former Governor-General of Bengal after concerns about the moral standards of the British in India are raised.Prime Minister William Pitt appoints commissioners for the reduction of the national debt and establishes a sinking fund of £1 million a year.
Government approves the establishment of a penal colony at Botany Bay.
Art and science
Robert Burns publishes Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect bringing him immediate success across the country.Engraver and publisher John Boydell initiates plans for his Shakespeare Gallery in an effort to establish a school of British history painting.
Merchant David Dale establishes New Lanark in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, as a model cotton milling community.
International
General Charles Cornwallis succeeds Warren Hastings as Governor-General in India.Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Marriage of Figaro premieres in Vienna.
Francisco Goya is appointed court painter to the Spanish king Charles III.
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