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John Hamilton Mortimer with a student

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- subject matching 'Double portraits'

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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John Hamilton Mortimer with a student

after John Hamilton Mortimer
oil on canvas, circa 1765
29 in. x 24 in. (737 mm x 610 mm)
Given by Elizabeth Twining, 1867
Primary Collection
NPG 234

On display in Room 18 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery

Sitterback to top

  • John Hamilton Mortimer (1740-1779), History painter. Sitter in 6 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 15 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • John Hamilton Mortimer (1740-1779), History painter. Artist or producer associated with 15 portraits, Sitter in 6 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Drawing Greek and Roman sculptures was a cornerstone of eighteenth-century artistic education. Such sketches were believed to refine artistic taste and give an understanding of anatomical perfection that complimented knowledge gained through life-drawing. John Hamilton Mortimer is probably depicted here in the Duke of Richmond's sculpture gallery in Whitehall. It contained casts of classical works from the best European collections and was open to students, allowing artists to train without the expense of a continental Grand Tour. Mortimer did not visit Italy but became a successful portraitist and history painter.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 351
  • Rideal, Liz, Insights: Self-portraits, 2005, p. 53 Read entry

    Mortimer sits prominently, concentrating on a drawing, the folds of his beautiful pale silk coat tumbling around a portfolio propped against his chair. Everything in the painting is subsidiary to him, including his student, whose eyes are lowered towards his master’s drawing. Mortimer painted conversation pieces and romantic subjects set in the wild Italian countryside. President of the Society of Artists in 1774, he died aged thirty-nine, just five years later.

  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 444

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1765back to top

Current affairs

George Grenville is dismissed as Prime Minister. He is succeeded by Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham.
Isle of Man is brought under British control.
Stamp Act requires that printed materials in the colonies, such as legal documents and newspapers, are produced on paper made in London carrying an embossed revenue stamp.



Art and science

Nevil Maskelyne becomes Astronomer Royal.
Writer Samuel Johnson publishes his edition of Shakespeare.
Inventor James Watt makes a breakthrough in the development of the steam engine by constructing a model with a separate condenser.
Judge and politician William Blackstone publishes his influential work Commentaries on the Laws of England.

International

Robert Clive secures the rights for the East India Company to collect taxes in Bengal from Mughal Emperor Shah Alam.
American campaigners against the Stamp Act organise themselves as the Sons of Liberty in Massachusetts and New York.


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