Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue
Hannah More (1745-1833), Religious writer
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
1778
Painting by Richard Samuel, Portraits in the characters of the Muses, see NPG 4905.
1778
On 5 March 1778 Hannah More told Mrs Gwatkin: ‘nothing but your great partiality for me could make you think it worth having. Be that as it will, I shall most readily obey you by sitting to [Daniel] Gardiner before I leave town’ (W. Roberts ed., Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More, 1835, I, p 139).
1780
Painting by Frances Reynolds, half-length seated writing. Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery (K313; illus. I. McIntyre, Garrick, 1999, f.p.466). Exhibited Third and concluding exhibition of National Portraits (fortieth year of the reign of George the third to MDCCCLXVII), South Kensington, 1868 (158) lent Rev T. F. Simmons. Engraved E. Scriven 1838 (from a drawing by Miss Simmons after a Picture presented to her by Mrs More/Painted by Miss Reynolds Sister of the late President of the Royal Academy). Dr Johnson interrupted one of Hannah More’s sittings to Mrs Reynolds in 1780 (W. Roberts ed., Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More, 1835, I, p 175).
1786
Painting by John Opie, half length with grey powdered hair. Girton College, Cambridge; from the Kimbolton sale, 18 July 1949, lot 90. Exhibited Third and concluding exhibition of National Portraits (fortieth year of the reign of George the third to MDCCCLXVII), South Kensington, 1868 (150) lent by the Duke of Manchester. Engraved J. Chapman, W. Finden 1834 (from the Picture painted by Opie in 1786 now in the Possession of Lady Olivia B. Sparrow), R. Woodman 1838, anon. (reversed), A. Halbert 1845. Miniature copy by [John] Roberts, engraved C. Heath 1798 (reversed; illus. M. A. Hopkins, Hannah More and her Circle, 1947, front.), in the Strawberry Hill sale, 11th day, 6 May 1842, lot 51 (Strawberry Hill, 1784, p 93). A matching drawing is in the Toronto Reference Library. More told Mrs Edward Boscawen, who commissioned the portrait, that she had ‘such a repugnance to having my picture taken, that I do not know any motive on earth which could induce me to it but your wishes' (W. Roberts ed., Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More, 1835, II, p 37).
1798
Anon. bust-length oval. Engraved W. Ridley 1798, 1799; Maguire (pub. P. Wogan and W. Porter).
1805
Unattributed drawing, see NPG 6533.
1809
Painting by Edward Bird, a small half-length panel. Untraced, with H. L. Nightingale 1863 (Sir George Scharf's Trustees' Sketch Books, 8/1a, 2). Engraved J. Godby 1809; W. T. Fry 1819; W. Read (version); G. Parker 1826. Hannah More did not apparently care for this portrait; in 1819, on the publication of her Works by Cadell & Davies with the Fry engraving as the frontispiece, she advised Miss Roberts: ‘you will not, I think, when you see Cadell, express to him your admiration of my sweet portrait, but rather inquire if no steps can be taken for its abolition’ (W. Roberts ed., Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More, 1835, IV, p 34).
1813
Drawing by J. Slater, half-length seated, engraved E. Scriven (‘from a drawing by Mr Slater taken at Barley Wood in November 1813’; illus. M. A. Hopkins, Hannah More and her Circle, 1947, f.p.18). On 27 December 1813 Hannah More wrote: ‘Good old Mr Bean asked me to sit to his son-in-law Mr Slater, of Newman Street, who was then in Clifton. I opposed it with all my might, but in vain. I sat at last to him; but as one sits down to a tooth-drawer. It is small, but they say extremely like ... But the worst part is to come, I was forced to consent to its being engraved, without which it could not have been profitable to the painter. It is such a folly! At my age too. It has quite mortified me’ (W. Roberts ed., Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More, 1835, III, p 419).
1815
Anon. engraving (pub. John Bell) of a related portrait, half length with bonnet.
1821
Painting by H. W. Pickersgill, see NPG 412.
c.1825
Unfinished drawing by John Jackson, bust length. British Museum (1856.07.12.957). Jackson had made drawings for the engraving of Bird’s portrait, see 1809 (cf. Sir George Scharf's Trustees' Sketch Books, 8/1b, 2).
Plaster statuette by Lawrence Gahagan, seated, teaching a young girl at her side. Private collection.
1827
Silhouette by Augustin Edouart, see NPG 4501.
Mrs Hannah More and her favourite Squirrel, ‘the old lady at a Chippendale table, the squirrel upon it’, an unattributed picture described by E. M. Forster (Abinger Harvest, 1940 ed., p 234).
Stone bust wearing bonnet and full collar in the church porch Wrington, Avon (illus. Country Life, XCI, 1942, p 459), facing a similarly crude bust of John Locke (who was born there).
A ‘Scottish School’ miniature, bust-length profile to right with lace cap, sold Christie’s, 19 September 1983, lot 232.
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.
Painting by Richard Samuel, Portraits in the characters of the Muses, see NPG 4905.
1778
On 5 March 1778 Hannah More told Mrs Gwatkin: ‘nothing but your great partiality for me could make you think it worth having. Be that as it will, I shall most readily obey you by sitting to [Daniel] Gardiner before I leave town’ (W. Roberts ed., Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More, 1835, I, p 139).
1780
Painting by Frances Reynolds, half-length seated writing. Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery (K313; illus. I. McIntyre, Garrick, 1999, f.p.466). Exhibited Third and concluding exhibition of National Portraits (fortieth year of the reign of George the third to MDCCCLXVII), South Kensington, 1868 (158) lent Rev T. F. Simmons. Engraved E. Scriven 1838 (from a drawing by Miss Simmons after a Picture presented to her by Mrs More/Painted by Miss Reynolds Sister of the late President of the Royal Academy). Dr Johnson interrupted one of Hannah More’s sittings to Mrs Reynolds in 1780 (W. Roberts ed., Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More, 1835, I, p 175).
1786
Painting by John Opie, half length with grey powdered hair. Girton College, Cambridge; from the Kimbolton sale, 18 July 1949, lot 90. Exhibited Third and concluding exhibition of National Portraits (fortieth year of the reign of George the third to MDCCCLXVII), South Kensington, 1868 (150) lent by the Duke of Manchester. Engraved J. Chapman, W. Finden 1834 (from the Picture painted by Opie in 1786 now in the Possession of Lady Olivia B. Sparrow), R. Woodman 1838, anon. (reversed), A. Halbert 1845. Miniature copy by [John] Roberts, engraved C. Heath 1798 (reversed; illus. M. A. Hopkins, Hannah More and her Circle, 1947, front.), in the Strawberry Hill sale, 11th day, 6 May 1842, lot 51 (Strawberry Hill, 1784, p 93). A matching drawing is in the Toronto Reference Library. More told Mrs Edward Boscawen, who commissioned the portrait, that she had ‘such a repugnance to having my picture taken, that I do not know any motive on earth which could induce me to it but your wishes' (W. Roberts ed., Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More, 1835, II, p 37).
1798
Anon. bust-length oval. Engraved W. Ridley 1798, 1799; Maguire (pub. P. Wogan and W. Porter).
1805
Unattributed drawing, see NPG 6533.
1809
Painting by Edward Bird, a small half-length panel. Untraced, with H. L. Nightingale 1863 (Sir George Scharf's Trustees' Sketch Books, 8/1a, 2). Engraved J. Godby 1809; W. T. Fry 1819; W. Read (version); G. Parker 1826. Hannah More did not apparently care for this portrait; in 1819, on the publication of her Works by Cadell & Davies with the Fry engraving as the frontispiece, she advised Miss Roberts: ‘you will not, I think, when you see Cadell, express to him your admiration of my sweet portrait, but rather inquire if no steps can be taken for its abolition’ (W. Roberts ed., Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More, 1835, IV, p 34).
1813
Drawing by J. Slater, half-length seated, engraved E. Scriven (‘from a drawing by Mr Slater taken at Barley Wood in November 1813’; illus. M. A. Hopkins, Hannah More and her Circle, 1947, f.p.18). On 27 December 1813 Hannah More wrote: ‘Good old Mr Bean asked me to sit to his son-in-law Mr Slater, of Newman Street, who was then in Clifton. I opposed it with all my might, but in vain. I sat at last to him; but as one sits down to a tooth-drawer. It is small, but they say extremely like ... But the worst part is to come, I was forced to consent to its being engraved, without which it could not have been profitable to the painter. It is such a folly! At my age too. It has quite mortified me’ (W. Roberts ed., Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More, 1835, III, p 419).
1815
Anon. engraving (pub. John Bell) of a related portrait, half length with bonnet.
1821
Painting by H. W. Pickersgill, see NPG 412.
c.1825
Unfinished drawing by John Jackson, bust length. British Museum (1856.07.12.957). Jackson had made drawings for the engraving of Bird’s portrait, see 1809 (cf. Sir George Scharf's Trustees' Sketch Books, 8/1b, 2).
Plaster statuette by Lawrence Gahagan, seated, teaching a young girl at her side. Private collection.
1827
Silhouette by Augustin Edouart, see NPG 4501.
Mrs Hannah More and her favourite Squirrel, ‘the old lady at a Chippendale table, the squirrel upon it’, an unattributed picture described by E. M. Forster (Abinger Harvest, 1940 ed., p 234).
Stone bust wearing bonnet and full collar in the church porch Wrington, Avon (illus. Country Life, XCI, 1942, p 459), facing a similarly crude bust of John Locke (who was born there).
A ‘Scottish School’ miniature, bust-length profile to right with lace cap, sold Christie’s, 19 September 1983, lot 232.
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.