Sir William Chambers
7 of 1300 portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds
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- Extended Catalogue Entry
Sir William Chambers
by Sir Joshua Reynolds
oil on canvas, circa 1756
35 in. x 27 in. (889 mm x 686 mm)
Purchased, 1858
Primary Collection
NPG 27
Artistback to top
- Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Painter and first President of the Royal Academy. Artist associated with 1413 portraits, Sitter associated with 38 portraits.
This portraitback to top
This portrait is by Reynolds, who was also a founding member of the Royal Academy and its first President.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 97
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 113
Events of 1756back to top
Current affairs
Government falls after criticism of its handling of the Seven Years War. Prime Minister Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle is succeeded by William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, who forms a ministry effectively run by William Pitt the Elder.Art and science
Satiristist Thomas Rowlandson is born in Old Jewry in the City of London. His main rival James Gillray is born exactly a month later in Chelsea.Completion of William Edwards' Old Bridge, Pontypridd; the longest single span bridge in Britain for the next forty years.
International
'Black Hole of Calcutta': a group of British prisoners, including East India Company servant John Zephaniah Holwell, are locked in a small, overcrowded dungeon overnight when Fort William in Calcutta is captured by troops of the Nawab of Bengal. Holwell claims 123 of the 146 prisoners died.Outbreak of the Seven Years War in which Britain, Hanover, Prussia and Denmark are pitted against France, Austria, Russia and Sweden.
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