Later Stuart Portraits Catalogue
John Somers, Baron Somers (1651-1716), Lord Chancellor
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Lawyer, politician, bibliophile, member of the Kit-Cat Club; Trinity College, Oxford, 1667; Middle Temple 1669; called 1676; MP 1689-93; solicitor general 1689-92; attorney-general 1692-93; Kt. 1689; lord keeper 1693-97; lord chancellor 1697-1700; created Baron Somers 1697; leader of the Whig junto 1694-; FRS 1698 and president 1698-1703; lord president of the council 1708-10; ‘a great encourager of Art’ (Vertue).
‘of grave Deportment, easy, and free in Conversation; something of a Libertine, of middle Stature, brown Complexion, near fifty Years old’ (J. Macky, Characters of the Court of Great Britain, 1733).
This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, 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.
‘of grave Deportment, easy, and free in Conversation; something of a Libertine, of middle Stature, brown Complexion, near fifty Years old’ (J. Macky, Characters of the Court of Great Britain, 1733).
This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, 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.