John Hamilton Reynolds

Overview
Extended Catalogue Entry

by Joseph Severn
watercolour on ivory, 1818
3 7/8 in. x 2 7/8 in. (99 mm x 73 mm)
Bequeathed by Penelope Sichel, 1975
Primary Collection
NPG 5052

Sitterback to top

John Hamilton Reynolds (1796-1852), Poet, friend and correspondent of John Keats. Sitter in 1 portrait.

Artistback to top

Joseph Severn (1793-1879), Painter and Civil Servant. Artist associated with 14 portraits, Sitter associated with 3 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This miniature was painted by Reynolds's friend Joseph Severn who is best known for his many portraits of Keats, before and after his untimely death.

Linked publicationsback to top

Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 518
Walker, Richard, Miniatures: 300 Years of the English Miniature, 1998, p. 97 Read entry
Severn's portrait of J. H. Reynolds, another of Keats's close friends and correspondents, and one of the band of poets that gathered at the Keats's house in Hampstead, is dated 1818 and was probably painted there.
Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 412
Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantic Icons, 1999, p. 93

Subject/Themeback to top

Miniatures

Events of 1818back to top

Current affairs

Death of Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, George III's Queen since 1761.
Official enquiry initiated into Queen Caroline's conduct abroad.

Art and science

Mary Shelley anonymously publishes her masterpiece Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus which reflects growing concern about the role of morality in science.
Lord Byron completes his romance Childe Harolde's Pilgrimage, whose gloomy, dissolute hero was probably based on the writer himself.

International

Stamford Raffles acquires authorisation to construct a fort at Singapore marking the beginning of its development as a centre of East-West trade.
Congress of European Alliance at Aix-La-Chapelle. Lord Castlereagh plays a central role in establishing a pan-Europe peace settlement to bring a chastened France back into the world of political respectability.

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