'Westminster school. or - Dr Busby settling accounts with Master-Billy and his playmates'
2 of 2 portraits of John Robinson
'Westminster school. or - Dr Busby settling accounts with Master-Billy and his playmates'
by James Gillray, published by James Ridgway
hand-coloured etching, published 4 February 1785
14 in. x 10 1/8 in. (354 mm x 256 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1947
Reference Collection
NPG D12993
Artistsback to top
- James Gillray (1756-1815), Caricaturist. Artist or producer associated with 887 portraits, Sitter in 7 portraits.
- James Ridgway (active 1784-1811). Artist or producer associated with 6 portraits.
Sittersback to top
- Richard Atkinson (1738-1785), Merchant. Sitter in 1 portrait. Identify
- Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Statesman; orator; author. Sitter associated with 107 portraits. Identify
- Charles James Fox (1749-1806), Whig statesman. Sitter associated with 313 portraits. Identify
- Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (1732-1792), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 64 portraits. Identify
- Sir Richard Hill, 2nd Bt (1732-1808), Writer of religious pamphlets and Conservative politician; MP for Shropshire. Sitter in 3 portraits. Identify
- William Pitt (1759-1806), Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 174 portraits. Identify
- John Robinson (1727-1802), Politician; MP for several constituencies. Sitter associated with 2 portraits. Identify
- Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816), Dramatist and parliamentary orator. Sitter associated with 168 portraits. Identify
Events of 1785back to top
Current affairs
George Prince of Wales secretly marries his mistress Maria Fitzherbert in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772.Prime Minister William Pitt introduces a bill proposing parliamentary reform and the abolition of 'rotten boroughs' but is defeated.
Art and science
William Cowper publishes his best -known poem The Task.James Boswell publishes The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, narrating his travels with the late writer Samuel Johnson.
Physician and naturalist James Hutton presents his studies of local rocks to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, launching the era of scientific geology.
International
Warren Hastings resigns as Governor-General of Bengal and returns to England. His trial begins on charges of corruption in the administration of India.French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon crosses the Atlantic to sculpt a statue of George Washington.
British government establishes a permanent land force in the Eastern Caribbean, based in Barbados.
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