Sir Richard Steele
5 of 33 portraits of Sir Richard Steele
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Sir Richard Steele
after Sir James Thornhill
mezzotint, 18th century
6 1/2 in. x 4 7/8 in. (165 mm x 123 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D42156
Artistback to top
- Sir James Thornhill (1675 or 1676-1734), Father-in-law of William Hogarth, decorative painter and politician; MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. Artist or producer associated with 23 portraits, Sitter associated with 14 portraits.
Events of 1700back to top
Current affairs
The sudden death of Prince William, son of Princess Anne and George, Prince of Denmark, triggers a succession crisis. His birth had secured the succession of the crown to a Protestant, safeguarding the throne from any future claim by James II's Catholic son, James Francis.Art and science
Dramatist, William Congreve's comedy The Way of the World premieres at Lincoln's Inn Theatre, receiving a mixed reception. It would achieve greater literary acclaim in modern times.Poet, John Dryden, dies and is buried in Geoffrey Chaucer's grave in Westminster Abbey.
International
Diplomat and poet, Matthew Prior, secretly negotiates with Louis XIV, king of France, a second partition treaty concerning the Spanish Empire. However, following the death of Spanish ruler, Carlos II, the agreement collapses since neither Spanish or Austrian governments accept the treaty's proposals.Comments back to top
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Alexandre DAILLIET
20 July 2019, 16:12
This portrait was reproduced in Picart's engraving Les Free-masons included in Cérémonies et Coutumes Religieuses de Tous les Peuples du Monde Représentées par des Figures dessinées de la main de Bernard Picart (Amsterdam : Chez J.F. Bernard, 1723-41), Folio. Vol. IV :…Qui contient les Anglicans, les Quaquers, les Anabaptistes (Amsterdam, 1736). According Rae Blanchard, PMLA [Proceedings of the Modern Language Association] Vol 63, n° 3, sept 1948, pp. 903-917.