Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue
William Cowper (1731-1800), Poet
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Cowper was a reluctant sitter. After sitting to Abbott and Romney within a period of eight weeks he wrote (29 Aug. 1792): ‘I have now I think been sufficiently a subject of the pencil, and comfort myself frequently with the thought that I have no more pennance to undergo of that kind’ a month later (24 Sept. 1792) he was still more emphatic: ‘I have now been sufficiently copied, and hope to have nothing more to do with painters’, and five months later (10 Feb. 1793) he was being perfectly realistic: ‘The painters having made two good hits, it would be folly to try them again, therefore I purpose never to do it’ [Cowper, Letters, IV, 1984, pp 186-87, 200, 291].
Cowper’s portraiture has been scrupulously surveyed in N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, pp 285-307.
A portrait of Cowper as a child with a bow and arrow, was mentioned in a letter of 13 October 1801 from John Johnson to Willima Hayley (N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, p 303). A miniature of him as a child was known in 1834 and another had belonged to Theadora Cowper (N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, p 303; W. B. Donne to Scharf, 22 May 1868, NPG archive).
1791
Drawing by John Higgins, profile with a tie wig and cravat, from a shadow picture (illus. Saturday Review of Literature, 28 November 1931; see N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, pp 285-86).
c.1791
Silhouette by James Andrews, bust length. Cowper Museum, Olney (illus. N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, f.p.286).
1792
Painting by Lemuel Francis Abbott, see NPG 2783 and NPG 806.
Painting by George Romney, see NPG 1423.
'Yet once more is my patience to be exercised', wrote Cowper (5-6 October 1793), 'and once more I am made to wish that my face had been made moveable, to put on and take off at pleasure, so as to be portable in a hand-box and sent to the artist' (Letters, IV, 1984, p 411).
1793
Drawing by Thomas Lawrence, half length with cap (K. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of the paintings, drawings and pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence’, Wal. Soc., XXXIX, 1964, p 222; N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, pp 290-98). Private collection; commissioned by Samuel Rose. Exhibited RA 1795 (596). Engraved F. Bartolozzi 1799 (a private plate, published in 1805; illus. N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, f.p.294); W. Blake 1802; C. Watson 1806 and many times thereafter; plates by W. Ridley 1803 and D. Lundin 1803 assemble the Lawrence head with, apparently, the Abbott wig and coat. Replica in the Cowper Museum, Olney. Pencil copy by John Constable 1804, (Louvre; illus. G. Reynolds, Early Paintings and Drawings of Constable, 1996, pl.239); another, anon., NPG reference collection (D159).
A small drawing by Lawrence of a profile head of Cowper, in the Denham Album, Yale University Library, was probably made at the same time.
1801-c.1804
Watercolour and tempera painting by William Blake, see NPG 1423.
c.1813
Painting by John Jackson, half length seated at table. Christie’s, 16 July 1998, lot 44, from Panshanger (N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, pp 298-301). Curiously described in the Panshanger cat., 1885, p 229, as ‘after a chalk drawing from life’; a Cowper descendant alleged that Jackson had been dissatisfied with his copy of the Abbott portrait and had proceeded to draw his own (note of 26 April 1966; NPG archive). Exhibited Second special exhibition of National Portraits (William and Mary to MDCCC), South Kensington, 1867 (807). Engraved J. Bull 1825; W. Raddon 1824 (variant).
A version engraved H. Meyer 1816, ‘from an Original Picture by F. Abbot in the Possession of the Revd John Johnson LLD’; also engraved W. Holl 1835; S. Freeman 1834; G. Stodart (head only).
Posthumous tributes also include a model by W. C. Marshall for an unexecuted monument in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, exhibited RA 1849 (1232); memorial windows incorporating the figure of Cowper in Westminster Abbey (by Clayton & Bell 1875) and in SS.Peter & Paul, Olney (1973); a medallion by J. Nesfield Forsyth for All Saints, Lower Edmonton, exhibited RA 1889 (2079); and a late and sorry-looking Wedgwood bust, illus. Connoisseur, XXIII, 1909, p 61.
Doubtful Portrait
Pastel by John Russell, illus. G. C. Williamson, John Russell, 1894, f.p.54, as Cowper, but copied from Rosalba Carriera’s Philip, Duke of Wharton.
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.
Cowper’s portraiture has been scrupulously surveyed in N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, pp 285-307.
A portrait of Cowper as a child with a bow and arrow, was mentioned in a letter of 13 October 1801 from John Johnson to Willima Hayley (N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, p 303). A miniature of him as a child was known in 1834 and another had belonged to Theadora Cowper (N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, p 303; W. B. Donne to Scharf, 22 May 1868, NPG archive).
1791
Drawing by John Higgins, profile with a tie wig and cravat, from a shadow picture (illus. Saturday Review of Literature, 28 November 1931; see N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, pp 285-86).
c.1791
Silhouette by James Andrews, bust length. Cowper Museum, Olney (illus. N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, f.p.286).
1792
Painting by Lemuel Francis Abbott, see NPG 2783 and NPG 806.
Painting by George Romney, see NPG 1423.
'Yet once more is my patience to be exercised', wrote Cowper (5-6 October 1793), 'and once more I am made to wish that my face had been made moveable, to put on and take off at pleasure, so as to be portable in a hand-box and sent to the artist' (Letters, IV, 1984, p 411).
1793
Drawing by Thomas Lawrence, half length with cap (K. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of the paintings, drawings and pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence’, Wal. Soc., XXXIX, 1964, p 222; N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, pp 290-98). Private collection; commissioned by Samuel Rose. Exhibited RA 1795 (596). Engraved F. Bartolozzi 1799 (a private plate, published in 1805; illus. N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, f.p.294); W. Blake 1802; C. Watson 1806 and many times thereafter; plates by W. Ridley 1803 and D. Lundin 1803 assemble the Lawrence head with, apparently, the Abbott wig and coat. Replica in the Cowper Museum, Olney. Pencil copy by John Constable 1804, (Louvre; illus. G. Reynolds, Early Paintings and Drawings of Constable, 1996, pl.239); another, anon., NPG reference collection (D159).
A small drawing by Lawrence of a profile head of Cowper, in the Denham Album, Yale University Library, was probably made at the same time.
1801-c.1804
Watercolour and tempera painting by William Blake, see NPG 1423.
c.1813
Painting by John Jackson, half length seated at table. Christie’s, 16 July 1998, lot 44, from Panshanger (N. Russell, 'Bibliography of William Cowper to 1837', Oxford Bibliographical Society, NS, XII, 1963, pp 298-301). Curiously described in the Panshanger cat., 1885, p 229, as ‘after a chalk drawing from life’; a Cowper descendant alleged that Jackson had been dissatisfied with his copy of the Abbott portrait and had proceeded to draw his own (note of 26 April 1966; NPG archive). Exhibited Second special exhibition of National Portraits (William and Mary to MDCCC), South Kensington, 1867 (807). Engraved J. Bull 1825; W. Raddon 1824 (variant).
A version engraved H. Meyer 1816, ‘from an Original Picture by F. Abbot in the Possession of the Revd John Johnson LLD’; also engraved W. Holl 1835; S. Freeman 1834; G. Stodart (head only).
Posthumous tributes also include a model by W. C. Marshall for an unexecuted monument in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey, exhibited RA 1849 (1232); memorial windows incorporating the figure of Cowper in Westminster Abbey (by Clayton & Bell 1875) and in SS.Peter & Paul, Olney (1973); a medallion by J. Nesfield Forsyth for All Saints, Lower Edmonton, exhibited RA 1889 (2079); and a late and sorry-looking Wedgwood bust, illus. Connoisseur, XXIII, 1909, p 61.
Doubtful Portrait
Pastel by John Russell, illus. G. C. Williamson, John Russell, 1894, f.p.54, as Cowper, but copied from Rosalba Carriera’s Philip, Duke of Wharton.
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.