Early Georgian Portraits Catalogue
William Somerville (1675-1742), Poet
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
The only type at present certainly established is NPG 1308. Two portraits, present whereabouts unknown, are referred to in a letter from Lady Luxborough to Shenstone, 10 July 1751: 'I return Mr Somervile's picture ... I think it very like Worlidge's, and indeed like Mr Somervile; but methinks it scarcely does him justice, as some of the least agreeable features in his face are rather too strongly marked; as under the eyes for example; and I think as he was very fair, the pencil might be fainter. But upon the whole, had I not another of him, I would not give this for a great sum.' [1] The portrait owned by Shenstone passed after his death to a Mr J. Hodgetts of Hagley, Worcestershire. [2]
Doubtful Portraits
A life-size whole length with a dog, stated to represent the sitter at the age of three, and an oval head and shoulders ascribed to Kneller when exhibited in ‘Art Treasures of the Midlands', 1934 (228), lent by Sir Edric Wolseley Bart (d. 1954), should be treated with caution. The appearance of the latter presented, 1919, to Sir Edric from the collection of Field Marshal Lord Wolseley, [3] is difficult to reconcile with the sitter of NPG 1308. Both portraits are in the collection of Sir Charles Wolseley, 11th Bart.
1) P. Cunningham, Johnson's Lives of the Poets, 1854, p 336, note 2.
2) Gentleman's Magazine, 1780, p 372.
3) Correspondence, 1970, with Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, NPG archives.
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.
Doubtful Portraits
A life-size whole length with a dog, stated to represent the sitter at the age of three, and an oval head and shoulders ascribed to Kneller when exhibited in ‘Art Treasures of the Midlands', 1934 (228), lent by Sir Edric Wolseley Bart (d. 1954), should be treated with caution. The appearance of the latter presented, 1919, to Sir Edric from the collection of Field Marshal Lord Wolseley, [3] is difficult to reconcile with the sitter of NPG 1308. Both portraits are in the collection of Sir Charles Wolseley, 11th Bart.
1) P. Cunningham, Johnson's Lives of the Poets, 1854, p 336, note 2.
2) Gentleman's Magazine, 1780, p 372.
3) Correspondence, 1970, with Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, NPG archives.
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.