Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe (1726-1799), Admiral
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
‘A mezzotinto portrait of him was taken by a foreign artist, without his knowledge, he was amazed when it was presented to him, but hung it up in his cabin, and for a long time this caused him to be known as ‘Black Dick’’ (J. C. Smith, British Mezzotint Portriats, I, p 135).
In 1796 George Dance wished to take a profile drawing of him, but ‘Lord Howe felt modest about sitting’ (Joseph Farington, Diary, 7 May 1796).
1758 or later
Painting by Arthur Devis, of Howe and his wife. Devis sale, 11 June 1822, lot 89 (E. G. D'Oench, The Conversation Piece: Arthur Devis & His Contemporaries, exhibition catalogue, New Haven, 1980, p 84, no.86).
1763-64
Painting by Thomas Gainsborough, whole length in the undress uniform of a commodore. Private collection (E. K. Waterhouse, Gainsborough, 1958, no.386; illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 48). Exhibited Art Treasures, Manchester 1857 (British Portrait Gallery 299). Companion to the whole length of his wife at Kenwood.
1777
Engraving by ‘Corbutt’ [C. Purcell], standing three-quarter length in naval uniform, pub. J. Morris (illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 82). Re-issued 1794.
1778
Engraving by J. Watson, half-length oval in uniform, showing Howe apparently c.1765 (illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 66) A painted copy is at Penn House.
1780
Miniature by John Smart (listed by D. Foskett, John Smart, 1964, p 68).
1782
Drawn and engraved by Benjamin Killingbeck, whole-length standing on the shore in admiral’s uniform. Re-issued in 1794. The head somewhat resembles that in Watson’s engraving of 1778.
c.1790
Painting by J. S. Copley, bust-length in admiral’s undress uniform. National Maritime Museum (BHC 2790). Exhibited Second special exhibition of National Portraits (William and Mary to MDCCC), South Kensington, 1867 (730) lent Earl Howe. Engraved R. Dunkarton 1794; F. Bartolozzi 1802 (within a larger plate, Commemoration of the Victory of June 1st 1794; illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 89); W. Sharp 1810; J. T. Wedgwood; E. Finden 1837 (half length). Directly related to the portrait exhibited in 1791, and see Barrington, NPG 5519. Versions with the Howe family, Lord Sligo, and the Empire Trust Co., New York, in 1966. Copies by Peter Mequignon (engraved R. Cooper; R. Laurie 1794); J. Harrison 1850 (United Services Club, London) and G. F. Clarke c.1880 (Admiralty House, Portsmouth); a miniature copy by Edward Miles is in the Royal Collection (R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1992, no.279), and another was sold Christie’s, 23 October 1989, lot 93.
An engraving by W. Ridley 1794, uses the Copley head, but the body is turned to the left and the left arm extended.
Copley was also said to have painted Howe in full dress uniform with epaulettes, the ribbon of the Garter, and the King’s gold medal and chain; versions with Lord Sligo and at Penn House in 1922 (Connoisseur, LXIV, 1922, p 245); not listed in J. D. Prown, John Singleton Copley, 1966, but possibly referring to a portrait by Mather Brown, see 1794 below.
1791
Drawing by Godefroy, bust-length oval, engraved J. Pass.
c.1791-94
A half-length portrait by Mather Brown, described as similar to that by Copley, remains at Penn House (A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p.70), and see under Copley above.
1794
Painting by Mather Brown, Lord Howe on the deck of the Queen Charlotte, at the death of Captain Neville. National Maritime Museum (BHC 2740). Engraved D. Orme 1795. Howe’s head separately engraved D. Orme 1795 (European Mag.) and 1798; G. Murray 1794 (badly for the Pocket Mag.); G. Gabrielli 1875 (Eton Portraits).
The 1798 Orme engraving was apparently the basis for the unattributed portrait in the National Maritime Museum (BHC 2789) which D. Evans, Mather Brown: an early American artist in England, 1982, p 247, suggests may be by Orme, who also copied Brown’s picture, see Rule Britannia, Sotheby’s, 1986 (91).
Medals by William Barnett, exhibited RA 1795 (535), and C. H. Küchler, celebrating Howe’s victory of 1 June 1794 (L. Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960: The Accession of George III to the Death of William IV, 1980, nos.382-83; both illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 91).
Painting by Gainsborough Dupont, whole-length standing. Trinity House, London. Exhibited Third and concluding exhibition of National Portraits (fortieth year of the reign of George the third to MDCCCLXVII), South Kensington, 1868 (877). Engraved V. Green 1799 in British Naval Victors (half length with added Garter ribbon and badge; illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 89); W. T. Fry 1831 & 1837, W. Greatbach 1878 (half length); H. Robinson 1832 (three-quarter length); a three-quarter length copy by George Kirtland c.1800, Guildhall Art Gallery, London (62).
‘Painted in Crayons’ by Simon de Koster, half length, map and sword before him, engraved T. Burke from the original then with Sir Charles Saxton.
c.1795
Painting by Henry Singleton, see NPG 75.
Miniature by François Ferrière, bust length as Admiral. Christie’s, 24 November 1964, lot 104. Exhibited British Portrait Miniatures, Edinburgh, 1965 (278) lent R. Graham.
1798-99
Paste medallion by James Tassie (J. M. Gray, James and William Tassie, a biographical and critical sketch with a catalogue of their portrait medallions of modern personages, 1894. nos.196-97; illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p.71) comparable with the medal by Barnett of 1794. Examples dated 1798 and 1799, Scottish NPG (PG 476, 477).
1798
Wax medallion by James De Vaere, see NPG 3313.
1799
Medal by Thomas Wyon sr. (L. Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960: The Accession of George III to the Death of William IV, 1980, no.468). An impression from a medal die by W. Wyon, one of ‘Mr Mudie’s series of National Medals’, exhibited RA 1819 (1111).
Undated
Pastel by H. D. Hamilton, with Capt. Conolly, Castletown, in 1913 (Wal. Soc , II, 1913, p.107).
Miniature by Thomas Hazelhurst, ‘in blue coat and white cravat’, exhibited Hothfield Heirlooms, London 1936 (20) lent Lord Hothfield.
Unattributed wax profile, sold Christie’s, 27 September 1989, lot 64.
Posthumous
c.1800
Wedgwood medallion (illus. R. Reilly and G. Savage, Wedgwood the Portrait Medallions, 1973, p 195), see also NPG 3313.
Wax bust by Thomas Wyon sr., in admiral’s uniform. Formerly E. J. Pyke collection (illus. Country Life, CXXXI, 1962, p 658).
1802
Modello by Thomas Banks, standing figure in Roman dress attended by two allegorical figures, for an unexecuted monument. Soane Museum (illus. C. F. Bell, Annals of Thomas Banks 1938, pl.XXXVIII).
c.1802
Painting on copper by Edward Bird, oval study for a memorial to Lord Howe, Wolverhampton Art Gallery (505).
1803-11
Monument by John Flaxman. St Paul’s Cathedral. Engraved J. Hall 1812; S. Rawle after E. F. Burney 1818. J. C. F. Rossi made a model for Howe’s St Paul’s monument (Joseph Farington, Diary, 27 April 1802).
1809
Colossal plaster bust by Francis Chantrey. National Maritime Museum (A. Yarrington, I. D. Lieberman, A. Potts, M. Baker, 'An Edition of the Ledger of Sir Francis Chantrey, RA, at the Royal Academy, 1809-1941', Wal. Soc., 1994, no.1, fig.4). Exhibited RA 1809 (789). Ordered by the architect David Alexander, with similar busts of Duncan, St Vincent and Nelson, to be placed outside the Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich; replaced c.1870 by a stone imitation.
Life-size version, ordered in 1810 for Trinity House, London, probably destroyed during the Second World War.
History pictures incorporating Lord Howe include: The Triumph of Britannia, by Francis Hayman 1762, containing a medallion portrait of Howe obscured by a triton, painted for Vauxhall Gardens and since destroyed, engraved S. Ravenet 1765 (illus. B. Allen, Francis Hayman, 1987, p 65); Howe being presented with Sword of State by George III, watercolour by Isaac Cruikshank c.1794, Guildhall Art Gallery, London (243); Lord Howe on the Queen Charlotte, 1 June 1794, by John Frost 1795, Sotheby’s, 12 March 1969, lot 82; Lord Howe accepting the French surrender, 1 June 1794, by Samuel Drummond c.1795, Christie’s, 13 March 1970, lot 162; George III presenting a sword to Earl Howe on board the Queen Charlotte by H. P. Briggs 1828 (National Maritime Museum, BHC 0476; illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 10).
Doubtful Portraits
Unreliable engraved portraits include: W. Angus 1782, Lord Viscount Howe (European Mag.); J. Brown 1815 after W. M. Craig, bust-length medallion; E. Smith (for McGregor’s History of the French Revolution).
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.
In 1796 George Dance wished to take a profile drawing of him, but ‘Lord Howe felt modest about sitting’ (Joseph Farington, Diary, 7 May 1796).
1758 or later
Painting by Arthur Devis, of Howe and his wife. Devis sale, 11 June 1822, lot 89 (E. G. D'Oench, The Conversation Piece: Arthur Devis & His Contemporaries, exhibition catalogue, New Haven, 1980, p 84, no.86).
1763-64
Painting by Thomas Gainsborough, whole length in the undress uniform of a commodore. Private collection (E. K. Waterhouse, Gainsborough, 1958, no.386; illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 48). Exhibited Art Treasures, Manchester 1857 (British Portrait Gallery 299). Companion to the whole length of his wife at Kenwood.
1777
Engraving by ‘Corbutt’ [C. Purcell], standing three-quarter length in naval uniform, pub. J. Morris (illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 82). Re-issued 1794.
1778
Engraving by J. Watson, half-length oval in uniform, showing Howe apparently c.1765 (illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 66) A painted copy is at Penn House.
1780
Miniature by John Smart (listed by D. Foskett, John Smart, 1964, p 68).
1782
Drawn and engraved by Benjamin Killingbeck, whole-length standing on the shore in admiral’s uniform. Re-issued in 1794. The head somewhat resembles that in Watson’s engraving of 1778.
c.1790
Painting by J. S. Copley, bust-length in admiral’s undress uniform. National Maritime Museum (BHC 2790). Exhibited Second special exhibition of National Portraits (William and Mary to MDCCC), South Kensington, 1867 (730) lent Earl Howe. Engraved R. Dunkarton 1794; F. Bartolozzi 1802 (within a larger plate, Commemoration of the Victory of June 1st 1794; illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 89); W. Sharp 1810; J. T. Wedgwood; E. Finden 1837 (half length). Directly related to the portrait exhibited in 1791, and see Barrington, NPG 5519. Versions with the Howe family, Lord Sligo, and the Empire Trust Co., New York, in 1966. Copies by Peter Mequignon (engraved R. Cooper; R. Laurie 1794); J. Harrison 1850 (United Services Club, London) and G. F. Clarke c.1880 (Admiralty House, Portsmouth); a miniature copy by Edward Miles is in the Royal Collection (R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1992, no.279), and another was sold Christie’s, 23 October 1989, lot 93.
An engraving by W. Ridley 1794, uses the Copley head, but the body is turned to the left and the left arm extended.
Copley was also said to have painted Howe in full dress uniform with epaulettes, the ribbon of the Garter, and the King’s gold medal and chain; versions with Lord Sligo and at Penn House in 1922 (Connoisseur, LXIV, 1922, p 245); not listed in J. D. Prown, John Singleton Copley, 1966, but possibly referring to a portrait by Mather Brown, see 1794 below.
1791
Drawing by Godefroy, bust-length oval, engraved J. Pass.
c.1791-94
A half-length portrait by Mather Brown, described as similar to that by Copley, remains at Penn House (A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p.70), and see under Copley above.
1794
Painting by Mather Brown, Lord Howe on the deck of the Queen Charlotte, at the death of Captain Neville. National Maritime Museum (BHC 2740). Engraved D. Orme 1795. Howe’s head separately engraved D. Orme 1795 (European Mag.) and 1798; G. Murray 1794 (badly for the Pocket Mag.); G. Gabrielli 1875 (Eton Portraits).
The 1798 Orme engraving was apparently the basis for the unattributed portrait in the National Maritime Museum (BHC 2789) which D. Evans, Mather Brown: an early American artist in England, 1982, p 247, suggests may be by Orme, who also copied Brown’s picture, see Rule Britannia, Sotheby’s, 1986 (91).
Medals by William Barnett, exhibited RA 1795 (535), and C. H. Küchler, celebrating Howe’s victory of 1 June 1794 (L. Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960: The Accession of George III to the Death of William IV, 1980, nos.382-83; both illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 91).
Painting by Gainsborough Dupont, whole-length standing. Trinity House, London. Exhibited Third and concluding exhibition of National Portraits (fortieth year of the reign of George the third to MDCCCLXVII), South Kensington, 1868 (877). Engraved V. Green 1799 in British Naval Victors (half length with added Garter ribbon and badge; illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 89); W. T. Fry 1831 & 1837, W. Greatbach 1878 (half length); H. Robinson 1832 (three-quarter length); a three-quarter length copy by George Kirtland c.1800, Guildhall Art Gallery, London (62).
‘Painted in Crayons’ by Simon de Koster, half length, map and sword before him, engraved T. Burke from the original then with Sir Charles Saxton.
c.1795
Painting by Henry Singleton, see NPG 75.
Miniature by François Ferrière, bust length as Admiral. Christie’s, 24 November 1964, lot 104. Exhibited British Portrait Miniatures, Edinburgh, 1965 (278) lent R. Graham.
1798-99
Paste medallion by James Tassie (J. M. Gray, James and William Tassie, a biographical and critical sketch with a catalogue of their portrait medallions of modern personages, 1894. nos.196-97; illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p.71) comparable with the medal by Barnett of 1794. Examples dated 1798 and 1799, Scottish NPG (PG 476, 477).
1798
Wax medallion by James De Vaere, see NPG 3313.
1799
Medal by Thomas Wyon sr. (L. Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960: The Accession of George III to the Death of William IV, 1980, no.468). An impression from a medal die by W. Wyon, one of ‘Mr Mudie’s series of National Medals’, exhibited RA 1819 (1111).
Undated
Pastel by H. D. Hamilton, with Capt. Conolly, Castletown, in 1913 (Wal. Soc , II, 1913, p.107).
Miniature by Thomas Hazelhurst, ‘in blue coat and white cravat’, exhibited Hothfield Heirlooms, London 1936 (20) lent Lord Hothfield.
Unattributed wax profile, sold Christie’s, 27 September 1989, lot 64.
Posthumous
c.1800
Wedgwood medallion (illus. R. Reilly and G. Savage, Wedgwood the Portrait Medallions, 1973, p 195), see also NPG 3313.
Wax bust by Thomas Wyon sr., in admiral’s uniform. Formerly E. J. Pyke collection (illus. Country Life, CXXXI, 1962, p 658).
1802
Modello by Thomas Banks, standing figure in Roman dress attended by two allegorical figures, for an unexecuted monument. Soane Museum (illus. C. F. Bell, Annals of Thomas Banks 1938, pl.XXXVIII).
c.1802
Painting on copper by Edward Bird, oval study for a memorial to Lord Howe, Wolverhampton Art Gallery (505).
1803-11
Monument by John Flaxman. St Paul’s Cathedral. Engraved J. Hall 1812; S. Rawle after E. F. Burney 1818. J. C. F. Rossi made a model for Howe’s St Paul’s monument (Joseph Farington, Diary, 27 April 1802).
1809
Colossal plaster bust by Francis Chantrey. National Maritime Museum (A. Yarrington, I. D. Lieberman, A. Potts, M. Baker, 'An Edition of the Ledger of Sir Francis Chantrey, RA, at the Royal Academy, 1809-1941', Wal. Soc., 1994, no.1, fig.4). Exhibited RA 1809 (789). Ordered by the architect David Alexander, with similar busts of Duncan, St Vincent and Nelson, to be placed outside the Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich; replaced c.1870 by a stone imitation.
Life-size version, ordered in 1810 for Trinity House, London, probably destroyed during the Second World War.
History pictures incorporating Lord Howe include: The Triumph of Britannia, by Francis Hayman 1762, containing a medallion portrait of Howe obscured by a triton, painted for Vauxhall Gardens and since destroyed, engraved S. Ravenet 1765 (illus. B. Allen, Francis Hayman, 1987, p 65); Howe being presented with Sword of State by George III, watercolour by Isaac Cruikshank c.1794, Guildhall Art Gallery, London (243); Lord Howe on the Queen Charlotte, 1 June 1794, by John Frost 1795, Sotheby’s, 12 March 1969, lot 82; Lord Howe accepting the French surrender, 1 June 1794, by Samuel Drummond c.1795, Christie’s, 13 March 1970, lot 162; George III presenting a sword to Earl Howe on board the Queen Charlotte by H. P. Briggs 1828 (National Maritime Museum, BHC 0476; illus. A. French, ed., The Earl and Countess Howe by Gainsborough, exhibition catalogue, Kenwood, 1988, p 10).
Doubtful Portraits
Unreliable engraved portraits include: W. Angus 1782, Lord Viscount Howe (European Mag.); J. Brown 1815 after W. M. Craig, bust-length medallion; E. Smith (for McGregor’s History of the French Revolution).
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.