Robert Adam

Overview
Extended Catalogue Entry

Robert Adam

attributed to George Willison
oil on canvas, circa 1770-1774
50 in. x 40 in. (1270 mm x 1016 mm)
Purchased, 1938
Primary Collection
NPG 2953

Sitterback to top

Robert Adam (1728-1792), Architect. Sitter in 2 portraits.

Artistback to top

George Willison (1741-1797), Portrait painter. Artist associated with 13 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

Smartify image discovery app
Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 7
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 4

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1770back to top

Current affairs

Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton resigns as Prime Minister and is succeeded by Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford.

Art and science

Oliver Goldsmith publishes his poem The Deserted Village.
Philosopher and politician Edmund Burke publishes Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents discussing the limits of the King's authority.
17-year-old Thomas Chatterton, later hailed as a significant poet, commits suicide in a London garret.
Thomas Gainsborough paints his portrait of Jonathan Buttall, which later becomes known as The Blue Boy.

International

'Townshend duties' on imports into the colonies are repealed, except for the duty on tea. However, this concession is soon followed by the Boston Massacre, in which British troops fire into an unruly crowd in Boston, killing five.
Captain Cook reaches the eastern coast of Australia, at a place which he names Botany Bay. He discovers the Great Barrier Reef when HMS Endeavour runs onto it. Cook claims New South Wales for the British.

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