Frank Nicholls

attributed to Thomas Hudson
oil on canvas, circa 1745-1748
50 3/4 in. x 41 1/8 in. (1290 mm x 1045 mm)
Purchased, 1991
Primary Collection
NPG 6144

Sitterback to top

Frank Nicholls (1699-1778), Physician. Sitter in 1 portrait.

Artistback to top

Thomas Hudson (1701-1779), Portrait painter and art collector. Artist or producer associated with 182 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 459

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1745back to top

Current affairs

Second Jacobite Rebellion: the Young Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart ('Bonnie Prince Charlie') lands in Scotland and proclaims his father king. Jacobite forces take Edinburgh and march into England as far as Derby but are forced to turn back due to lack of support.
The song later to become the British national anthem, God Save the King, is first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre in London in a setting by Thomas Arne.

Art and science

William Hogarth completes the six paintings of Marriage-à-la-Mode, his satirical take on upper-class eighteenth-century society.
West towers of Westminster Abbey are completed
Satirical writer Jonathan Swift dies.

International

War of the Austrian Succession: the French army defeat Austrian, Dutch and British forces under the Duke of Cumberland at the Battle of Fontenoy.
Madame de Pompadour becomes mistress to Louis XV of France.
Principle of the Leyden jar is discovered by German physicist, Ewald Georg von Kleist.
Artist Giovanni Batista Piranesi publishes the first of his Vedute (Views); a celebrated series of etchings of Rome.

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