George Frideric Handel
6 of 36 portraits of George Frideric Handel
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© National Portrait Gallery, London
George Frideric Handel
after Thomas Hudson
oil on canvas, 1756-1800, based on a work of 1756
48 7/8 in. x 39 7/8 in. (1242 mm x 1013 mm)
Purchased, 1857
Primary Collection
NPG 8
Artistback to top
- Thomas Hudson (1701-1779), Portrait painter and art collector. Artist or producer associated with 182 portraits.
This portraitback to top
An early, somewhat coarse, copy of part of Thomas Hudson's full-length portrait of the composer late in life. More detailed information on this portrait is available in a National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue, John Kerslake's Early Georgian Portraits (1977, out of print).
Linked publicationsback to top
- Kerslake, John, Early Georgian Portraits, 1977, p. 175
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 277
Subjects & Themesback to top
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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