James Macardell
9 of 1425 portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
James Macardell
by Sir Joshua Reynolds
oil on canvas, circa 1756-1760
29 1/2 in. x 24 1/2 in. (749 mm x 622 mm)
Given by the Art Fund, 1942
Primary Collection
NPG 3123
Sitterback to top
- James Macardell (1727 or 1728-1765), Mezzotint engraver. Sitter in 3 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 294 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Painter and first President of the Royal Academy. Artist or producer associated with 1425 portraits, Sitter associated with 40 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Reynolds shows his engraver, James Macardell, in the act of engraving a copper plate. 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
- Cullen, Fintan, The Irish Face: Redefining the Irish Portrait, 2004, p. 81
- Kerslake, John, Early Georgian Portraits, 1977, p. 175
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 396
Events of 1756back to top
Current affairs
Government falls after criticism of its handling of the Seven Years War. Prime Minister Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle is succeeded by William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, who forms a ministry effectively run by William Pitt the Elder.Art and science
Satiristist Thomas Rowlandson is born in Old Jewry in the City of London. His main rival James Gillray is born exactly a month later in Chelsea.Completion of William Edwards' Old Bridge, Pontypridd; the longest single span bridge in Britain for the next forty years.
International
'Black Hole of Calcutta': a group of British prisoners, including East India Company servant John Zephaniah Holwell, are locked in a small, overcrowded dungeon overnight when Fort William in Calcutta is captured by troops of the Nawab of Bengal. Holwell claims 123 of the 146 prisoners died.Outbreak of the Seven Years War in which Britain, Hanover, Prussia and Denmark are pitted against France, Austria, Russia and Sweden.
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