Richard Cumberland
1 portrait
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Richard Cumberland
by George Romney
oil on canvas, circa 1776
49 in. x 39 in. (1245 mm x 991 mm)
Purchased, 1857
Primary Collection
NPG 19
On display in Room 18 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery
Artistback to top
- George Romney (1734-1802), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 173 portraits, Sitter in 5 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Cumberland met Romney around 1768. He was soon the artist's most prominent supporter, procuring commissions and garnering him mention in the papers. This characterful and sensitive portrait is just one of several that Romney painted of Cumberland. After a cooling in their friendship however, Cumberland's low-key obituary of Romney contributed to the eclipse of the artist's posthumous reputation.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Smartify image discovery app
- Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 132
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 159
Events of 1776back to top
Current affairs
Tahitian visitor to London Omai returns home with Captain James Cook on his third voyage. During his two-year stay he inspired a play and was painted by Joshua Reynolds.Member of Parliament David Hartley unsuccessfully introduces a motion to the House of Commons calling for the abolition of the slave trade.
Art and science
Edward Gibbon produces the first volume of his monumental The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.Artist John Constable is born.
Scottish economist Adam Smith analyses the nature and causes of prosperity in his magnum opus The Wealth of Nations.
International
American War of Independence: George Washington raises a new American flag on Prospect Hill, Boston. In an anonymous pamphlet entitled Common Sense, English immigrant Thomas Paine is the first to argue that the American colonies should be independent. Declaration of American Independence on 4 July.Comments back to top
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