15 OF 262 
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
15 of 262 portraits by Thomas Gainsborough
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Share thisCharles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
by Thomas Gainsborough
oil on canvas, feigned oval, 1783
29 1/2 in. x 24 1/2 in. (749 mm x 622 mm)
Purchased, 1869
Primary Collection
NPG 281
On display in Room 14 at the National Portrait Gallery
Sitterback to top
- Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1805), General and diplomat. Sitter associated with 14 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), Portrait and landscape painter. Artist associated with 262 portraits, Sitter in 8 portraits.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Smartify image discovery app
- Bayly, Christopher, The Raj: India and the British 1600-1947, 1990 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 19 October 1990 - 17 March 1991), p. 127
- Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 121
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 145
Events of 1783back to top
Current affairs
William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne resigns as Prime Minister over the proposed peace terms with the United States. Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford briefly forms a government with Charles James Fox in April but is succeeded by a government under William Pitt the Younger who, at the age of 24 becomes the youngest British Prime Minister ever to take office.The highwayman John Austin is the last person to be publicly executed at Tyburn.
Art and science
Physician and natural philosopher Erasmus Darwin begins publication of A System of Vegetables, a translation from Latin of the work of Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus in which he coins many common English names of plants.International
Defeat of Charles James Fox's India Bill in the House of Lords which aimed to assist ailing British East India Company.American War of Independence: Treaty of Paris is signed by Britain, France, Spain and the United States, under which the British government recognises US independence. Britain begins to evacuate loyalists and the last British troops leave New York City three months later.
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See this portrait
On display in Room 14 at the National Portrait Gallery
Related pages
Recommended Events
- Gainsborough's Family Album
From 23 February