Sydney Smith

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sydney Smith

by Sir Edwin Landseer
pen and wash, circa 1835
9 3/8 in. x 7 3/8 in. (239 mm x 187 mm)
Purchased, 1972
Primary Collection
NPG 4917

Sitterback to top

  • Sydney Smith (1771-1845), Wit and Canon of St Paul's. Sitter in 9 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873), Painter. Artist or producer associated with 56 portraits, Sitter in 22 portraits.

This portraitback to top

When asked to sit for a formal portrait by Landseer, he is reported to have replied 'Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?' Landseer got his revenge with this caricature. Smith's obesity and French tastes are exaggerated, while the corpulent friar and impish devil may allude to his controversial parallel roles as churchman and political firebrand.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Rogers, Malcolm, Master Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery, 1993 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 August to 23 October 1994), p. 111
  • Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 461

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1835back to top

Current affairs

Lord Melbourne, Whig, becomes Prime Minister following Peel's resignation. Melbourne's government took steps to suppress trade union activity, introducing legislation against 'illegal oaths', contributing to the failure of Robert Owen's Grand National Consolidated Trades' Union.

Art and science

Felix Dujardin, the French biologist, reveals protoplasm.
Work on the enlargement and remodelling of Buckingham House to designs by the architect John Nash is completed, creating Buckingham Palace.

International

Juan Manuel de Rosas becomes dictator of Argentina, invoking a seventeen year rule dominated by terror. A powerful cattle rancher, he represents the rise of the estancieros, the new landed oligarchy based on commercial ranching.

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