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Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford

1 of 64 portraits of Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford

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Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford

by Pompeo Batoni
oil on canvas, 1752-1756
36 3/4 in. x 29 3/4 in. (934 mm x 756 mm)
Purchased with help from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund, 1992
Primary Collection
NPG 6180

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787), Artist. Artist or producer associated with 7 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This portrait of North writing a letter is one of Batoni's earliest and most sensitive portraits of an Englishman on the Grand Tour, and was painted during the sitter's stay in Rome.

Linked publicationsback to top

Placesback to top

  • Place made: Italy (Rome, Italy)

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1752back to top

Current affairs

Calendar Act (also known as Chesterfield's Act after Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield) comes into force, abolishing the old Julian calendar and adopting the more accurate Gregorian calendar. The year now begins on 1st January rather than 25th March.
Parliament passes a bill to bestow estates forfeited by Jacobites to the Crown and use the revenue to develop the Scottish Highlands.

Art and science

Artist William Hogarth publishes his influential book The Analysis of Beauty which presents his ideas about aesthetics.
Charles Avison publishes Essay on Musical Expression; the first work of musical criticism published in English.
Obstetrician William Smellie introduces scientific midwifery.

International

Benjamin Franklin flies a kite into a thunder cloud to demonstrate the nature of electricity.
Georgia becomes a royal colony; the last of the thirteen American colonies.
French seize or evict every English-speaking trader in the region of upper Ohio. Liberty Bell arrives in Philadelphia.
Robert Clive forces the surrender of French troops in the aftermath of the Siege of Trichinopoly in India.

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