Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Christopher Anstey (1724-1805), Poet

c.1750-55
Painting attributed to Thomas Hudson, three-quarter length. Victoria Art Gallery, Bath (1984.23; illus. Connoisseur, XX, 1908, p 29, as possibly by Hoare). Previously attributed to Gainsborough (exhibited as such International Exhibition, Royal Pavilion, Paris, 1900, p 46). The identity is traditional and negotiable.

c.1755
Enamel by Christian Zincke, half length, engraved C. Bestland as ‘aetat XXXI’, with arms of Anstey and Calvert.

c.1765?
Unattributed painting, half-length seated, copied by J. Thurston and engraved F. Engleheart 1822, from an original picture in the possession of Arthur Anstey Calvert.

c.1770?
Painting attributed to Thomas Beach, half length. King’s College, Cambridge.

c.1776-78
Painting by William Hoare, see NPG 3084.

1778
Etching by William Hoare, bust length. Example in the NPG reference collection (D9493) signed[?] Wm Hoare ft 1779. Pencil copy by G. P. Harding, NPG reference collection (D5635) inscribed: Mr Anstey/... tey author of the Bath Guide/From an etching by W Hoare of Bath//W. Hoare fct/1778. Wm Ty.

c.1780
Painting attributed to John Simmons (d. 1780) and formerly to Thomas Beach, half length, painted oval. Victoria Art Gallery, Bath (1955.2). The head relates closely to NPG 3084.

c.1790
Painting by J. R. Smith, small oval three-quarter length, wearing spectacles. Sotheby's, 12 February 1998, lot 222, from the Anstey family.

1793
Miniature enamel on glass, by Jacob Spornberg, bust length, with his wife. Holburne Museum, Bath (M 207; S. McKechnie, British Silhouette Artists and their Work 1760-1860, 1978, no.1573). Two more enamels of 1793 by Spornberg, showing ladies from the Anstey family, were sold Christies, 8 March 1995, lot 101, and Bonham's, 30 June 1998, lot 81, both from the collection of Lady Sackville.

A miniature, whole-length seated in library, seen in 1858 by Scharf in Bath (Sir George Scharf's Sketch Books 52/30) when attributed to Zoffany. Further miniatures of the Anstey family are listed in the collection of Lord Sackville (R. Bayne-Powell, Catalogue of Portrait Miniatures in the Holburne Museum and Crafts Study Centre, Bath, 1995, p 79).

Doubtful Portraits
See NPG 1339. A painting attributed to Gainsborough, seated by a window, ‘aged 40’, with H. Hughes-Stanton 1902 and possibly Christie’s, 28 January 1905, lot 19.



This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.