Regency Portraits Catalogue

Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828), Painter

Painter, especially of coastal scenes and architectural views.

'... was tall and appeared to be strongly built, and there was nothing in him which could excite suspicions of consumption … His countenance was truly English; no other expression than that of melancholy gave it character' (Le Globe, 8 October, 1828).

Referencesback to top

Dubuisson & Hughes 1924
Dubuisson & Hughes, Richard Parkes Bonington, 1924, p 90 - 'a mediocre piece of Work' (NPG 444), and p 194.

Hall 1959
H. C. Hall, 'A Bonington Portrait by Margaret Carpenter' in Connoisseur Year Book, 1959, p 110.

Magazine of the Fine Arts in 1833-4, p 70.

Race 1950
Sidney Race, Notes on the Boningtons, 1950, pp 23-5 and 32.

Shirley 1940
Andrew Shirley, R. P. Bonington, 1940, p 143 (NPG 1729) and see review by Paul Oppé in Burlington Magazine, September 1941.


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.