Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough (1758-1844), British peer; Lord of the Admiralty 1782-83

1773
Pastel by J-E. Liotard, half-length seated. Stansted Park. Exhibited RA 1773 (176).

1785
Painting by Joshua Reynolds, half length. Althorp (D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 2000, I, no.1459). Miniature versions by W. R. Birch, in a blue coat (Sotheby’s, Stansted Park, 5 October 1999, lot 465), and Richard Cosway, in a green coat (Victoria and Albert Museum, P.44.1910; illus. S. Lloyd, Richard & Maria Cosway, exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh, NPG, 1995, pl.23).

c.1785-90
Unattributed painting, mounted on a black horse. Private collection (illus. J. Ponsonby, The Ponsonby Family, 1929, p 102).

1811
Portrait by William Lane, exhibited RA 1811 (360). Probably the source for the head in Lane’s Mr Fox and his Friends of c.1813, see NPG 2076.

1820-23
Painting by George Hayter, The Trial of Queen Caroline, see NPG 999.

Doubtful Portraits
Engraving, Frederick Viscount Duncannon, ‘drawn from the life by W. H. Brown Engraved C. Warren’ 1791 (The Senator) appears to be a copy of the 1789 Reynolds portrait of Cholmondeley (D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 2000, I, no.363).



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.