George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton
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- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton
by Unknown artist
oil on canvas, circa 1756?
29 1/2 in. x 24 3/4 in. (749 mm x 629 mm)
Given by Lord Lyttelton, 1861
Primary Collection
NPG 128
Sitterback to top
- George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton (1709-1773), Scholar and Whig politician; Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sitter in 7 portraits.
This portraitback to top
The portrait is undated and in appearance seems near in age to Lyttelton's portrait by Joshua Reynolds of 1756; but, despite certain marks of his influence in the lighting, it is too weakly painted for him. The portrait was given by George, 6th Baron Lyttelton in 1861. 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. 173
- Ormond, Richard, Early Victorian Portraits, 1973, p. 416
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 395
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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