Allan Ramsay

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Buy a print Buy a greetings card Make a donation Close

Allan Ramsay

by Allan Ramsay
red chalk heightened with white on buff paper, 1776
11 3/8 in. x 8 1/2 in. (289 mm x 216 mm)
Purchased, 1912
Primary Collection
NPG 1660

Sitterback to top

  • Allan Ramsay (1713-1784), Portrait painter. Sitter in 3 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 120 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Allan Ramsay (1713-1784), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 120 portraits, Sitter in 3 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Allan Ramsay drew many self-portraits during his visits to Italy, when time could be spared from his busy studio practice. This poignant image from one of his last visits, in 1776, highlights the creative outlet offered by drawing when painting was difficult. Ramsay fell from a ladder in 1773, permanently damaging his painting arm. He drew this self-portrait while taking the supposedly-curative waters on the island of Ischia but his arm didn't improve. This melancholic portrait is one of his last works. Forced to give up painting, he devoted the last years of his life to writing and travel. 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

  • Rogers, Malcolm, Master Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery, 1993 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 August to 23 October 1994), p. 57
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 511
  • Smart, Alastair, Allan Ramsay, 1713-1784, 1992 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from Catalogue of exhibition held at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, 1 Aug. - 27 Sept. 1992; and the National Portrait Gallery, London, from 16 Oct. 1992 - 17 Jan. 1993.), p. 92

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

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

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.