Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue
Henry Constantine Jennings (1731-1819), Virtuoso, antiquary and collector
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Virtuoso and eccentric, of Shiplake, Oxon.; in Italy c.1753-61, when he purchased the celebrated marble ‘dog of Alcibiades’ (British Museum) which he sold in 1778, due to debts accrued principally through horse racing; collected portraits, prints, shells and stuffed birds, and published a number of essays, including A Free Enquiry into the Enormous Increase of Attornies 1785 and Thoughts on the Rise and Decline of the Fine Arts 1798.
‘[his] figure was short, thin, and much bent by age; and he was very singular in his dress. The crown of his hat fitted his head as close as a pitch-plaster; his coat was short, of common cloth, and ... regularly buttoned up from his waist to his chin ... He stepped astride in consequence of the bowness of his legs, and generally attracted notice by striking his walking stick hard on the stones with his right arm fully extended, while his left swung low before him’ (J. T. Smith, 1845).
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.
‘[his] figure was short, thin, and much bent by age; and he was very singular in his dress. The crown of his hat fitted his head as close as a pitch-plaster; his coat was short, of common cloth, and ... regularly buttoned up from his waist to his chin ... He stepped astride in consequence of the bowness of his legs, and generally attracted notice by striking his walking stick hard on the stones with his right arm fully extended, while his left swung low before him’ (J. T. Smith, 1845).
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.