Regency Portraits Catalogue
Robert Bloomfield (1766-1823), Poet
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
1790-1800
Cosway miniature and copy by Bone (NPG 1644).
1800
Miniature by Solomon Polack known from a line engraving by Brown published in The Monthly Mirror, X, 1800.
Oil by Samuel Drummond exhibited RA 1801 (409) known from an oval stipple by Ridley in The Monthly Mirror, X, 1800, republished with cottage and field background by William Darton 1823; a slight variant was published in The European Magazine, XL, November 1801). Possibly the original of these (in reverse) was that sold Christie's 8 May 1897 (24), pencil sketch in NPG copy of catalogue.
1802-3
Oil by Rembrandt Peale painted as a student in London for his father's 'portrait factory' in Philadelphia; it was sold at the Philadelphia Museum auction 1854 but a mezzotint of it was described by Thomas Inskip in The Bedfordshire Times, 6 May 1904: 'Mr Bloomfield himself told me that the most correct likeness of him ever painted was done by Peele [sic], son to the proprietor of The Mammoth. He painted it while resident in England and took it away with him to America after promising it to the author.'
1804
Miniature by Pierre Violet with a mezzotint by Young published 1 January 1805 and a sketch exhibited RA 1805 (360); a miniature, probably Violet's, was lent to Burlington Fine Arts Club Miniature Exhibition 1889 (58) by Jeffery Whitehead; a letter from Bloomfield to Violet 30 May 1804 says: '... the Portrait acquires additional value every time it is look'd at. My wife and children who best know my face are delighted with it; my youngest Daughter calls it Little Father...' (Bernard Quaritch, Catalogue 931, 1973, 42).
1805
Oil by John Rising with mezzotint by Young published 1 October 1805; both these Young mezzotints were published by Bloomfield himself and are lettered identically with verses from The Farmer's Boy alluding to the Duke of Grafton, the poet's patron.
c.1805
Watercolour by Edridge (NPG 2926).
Undated
A portrait by Harlow was offered to NPG 22 January 1903.
Undated and doubtful
An oil by Hoppner called 'Bloomfield' (W. McKay & W. Roberts, John Hoppner R.A., p 26 and Christie's 11 June 1937) was lent to Third Exhibition of National Portraits, South Kensington, 1868 (168) by W. Percival Boxall, but surely this plump smooth gentleman does not represent the Farmer's Boy (photograph in NPG).
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, 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.
Cosway miniature and copy by Bone (NPG 1644).
1800
Miniature by Solomon Polack known from a line engraving by Brown published in The Monthly Mirror, X, 1800.
Oil by Samuel Drummond exhibited RA 1801 (409) known from an oval stipple by Ridley in The Monthly Mirror, X, 1800, republished with cottage and field background by William Darton 1823; a slight variant was published in The European Magazine, XL, November 1801). Possibly the original of these (in reverse) was that sold Christie's 8 May 1897 (24), pencil sketch in NPG copy of catalogue.
1802-3
Oil by Rembrandt Peale painted as a student in London for his father's 'portrait factory' in Philadelphia; it was sold at the Philadelphia Museum auction 1854 but a mezzotint of it was described by Thomas Inskip in The Bedfordshire Times, 6 May 1904: 'Mr Bloomfield himself told me that the most correct likeness of him ever painted was done by Peele [sic], son to the proprietor of The Mammoth. He painted it while resident in England and took it away with him to America after promising it to the author.'
1804
Miniature by Pierre Violet with a mezzotint by Young published 1 January 1805 and a sketch exhibited RA 1805 (360); a miniature, probably Violet's, was lent to Burlington Fine Arts Club Miniature Exhibition 1889 (58) by Jeffery Whitehead; a letter from Bloomfield to Violet 30 May 1804 says: '... the Portrait acquires additional value every time it is look'd at. My wife and children who best know my face are delighted with it; my youngest Daughter calls it Little Father...' (Bernard Quaritch, Catalogue 931, 1973, 42).
1805
Oil by John Rising with mezzotint by Young published 1 October 1805; both these Young mezzotints were published by Bloomfield himself and are lettered identically with verses from The Farmer's Boy alluding to the Duke of Grafton, the poet's patron.
c.1805
Watercolour by Edridge (NPG 2926).
Undated
A portrait by Harlow was offered to NPG 22 January 1903.
Undated and doubtful
An oil by Hoppner called 'Bloomfield' (W. McKay & W. Roberts, John Hoppner R.A., p 26 and Christie's 11 June 1937) was lent to Third Exhibition of National Portraits, South Kensington, 1868 (168) by W. Percival Boxall, but surely this plump smooth gentleman does not represent the Farmer's Boy (photograph in NPG).
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, 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.