Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban

by Unknown artist
oil on canvas, after 1731, based on a work of circa 1618
79 in. x 50 in. (2007 mm x 1270 mm)
Purchased, 1900
Primary Collection
NPG 1288

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Unknown artist, Artist. Artist or producer associated with 6578 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This portrait is a later version of a contemporary painting showing Bacon in his parliamentary robes.

Related worksback to top

  • NPG D17100: Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (source portrait)
  • NPG D39992: Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (source portrait)
  • NPG D39993: Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (source portrait)

Linked publicationsback to top

Events of 1618back to top

Current affairs

Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban, is appointed Lord High Chancellor. He would be impeached for bribery three years later ending his political career.
Lord High Treasurer Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, and his wife, Katherine, are charged with embezzlement and found guilty the following year.

Art and science

Jurist, politician and scholar, John Selden, publishes his History of Tythes, in which he concedes the legal right of the Church of England to collect tithes, but denies divine authority.
The Royal College of Physicians compiles the London Pharmacopoeia, a standard list of medicines and their ingredients.

International

Sir Walter Ralegh's voyage to Guiana tragically fails. Unable to find treasure, his attack against the Spanish settlement San Thomé, during which his son Walter dies, dangerously jeopardises Anglo-Spanish relations. Ralegh returns home and is executed for treason.
Start of the Thirty Years War, precipitated by the Bohemian Revolt.

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Jacinto Regalado

04 October 2019, 18:47

This picture is evidently after the same work as the 3/4-length version of it by John Vanderbank (NPG 1904), and I expect Vanderbank may have painted this full-length also. However, the important question is who painted the original, and the most likely candidate is Paulus van Somer. Several versions of this picture are already attributed to him or considered after him, and his authorship is perfectly plausible stylistically as well as otherwise. Two such versions are below:

https://www.artuk.org/discover/artworks/francis-bacon-15611626-1st-baron-verulam-and-viscount-st-albans-lawyer-philosopher-poet-and-lord-chancellor-134812/view_as/grid/search/works_auto:francis-bacon/page/2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_van_Somer_I#/media/File:Somer_Francis_Bacon.jpg

I have seen one version (below) attributed to studio of Abraham van Blyenberch, which is possible but less likely than van Somer:

https://www.artuk.org/discover/artworks/francis-bacon-15611626-56065/view_as/grid/search/works_auto:francis-bacon/page/2

Given the importance of the sitter, I think the NPG should be more specific than "after unknown artist," since it is quite likely, even if not absolutely certain, that the artist was Paulus van Somer.