Early Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Early portrait types, apart from that engraved by J. Simon after Le Clare, are not clearly established. There are two states of the engraving (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 1878-83, 61), the face being younger in the first. The original portrait c.1697(?) [1] may possibly be the head and shoulders, in armour, inscribed posthumously Simon Lord Fraser of Lovat, decoll 1747, and ascribed to Hogarth; it was lent by Sir Keith Fraser, Bart to the 'Coronation Exhibition', Leicester, 1937 (69). A portrait in the manner of W. Aikman at Castle Grant, Earl of Seafield, has a contemporary or early inscription giving the sitter's name. Another, with rather similar features, entered the collection of Lady Lovat, 1930. A portrait of Lovat in middle age was lent by Archibald Fraser of Abertarff to the 'Historical Portraits Exhibition', 1859 (96). [2]

1) Gallery copy of the exhibition catalogue annotated c.1710, on the date of the wig.
2) No description given.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Kerslake, Early Georgian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1977, 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.