Samuel Wesley the Elder
3 of 3 portraits of Samuel Wesley the Elder







© National Portrait Gallery, London
- Buy a print
- Buy greetings card
- Use this image
- Share this
Samuel Wesley the Elder
by George Vertue, after Unknown artist
line engraving, circa 1732
12 1/4 in. x 6 1/2 in. (310 mm x 164 mm) plate size
Given by Henry Witte Martin, 1861
Reference Collection
NPG D9050
Artistsback to top
- Unknown artist, Artist. Artist or producer associated with 6556 portraits.
- George Vertue (1683-1756), Engraver and antiquary. Artist or producer associated with 864 portraits, Sitter in 7 portraits.
Events of 1732back to top
Current affairs
Secession Church formed in Scotland.Widespread fraud and abuses in the customs service revealed. Prime Minister Robert Walpole responds with the Excise scheme, under which the tariff on wine and tobacco is to be replaced by an excise tax.
British Hat Act limits manufacturing in the British colonies, forcing colonists to buy imported British-made goods.
Art and science
Frederick, Prince of Wales attends a fancy-dress ball at Vauxhall Gardens, initiating its supremacy as London's most fashionable meeting place.William Hogarth produces the first prints of A Harlot's Progress, having completed the painted series the previous year.
The original Covent Garden Theatre Royal (now the Royal Opera House) opens.
International
Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn is born.Georgia in the American colonies is granted to a group of British philanthropists, to give debtors a new start in life.
Tell us more back to top
Can you tell us more about this portrait? Spotted an error, information that is missing (a sitter’s life dates, occupation or family relationships, or a date of portrait for example) or do you know anything that we don't know? If you have information to share please complete the form below.
If you require information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service. You can buy a print of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at £6 for unframed prints, £25 for framed prints. If you wish to license this image, please use our Rights and Images service.
Please note that we cannot provide valuations.
We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.
Related pages
- Making History: Printed Portraiture in Tudor and Stuart Britain
- Mary, Queen of Scots: Fact and Fiction
- Silhouettes display, 2004-05
- Return to Life: A New Look at the Portrait Bust
- 2019 Anniversaries
- William Hazlitt's Spirit of the Age
- Restoration Lives: Samuel Pepys and His Circle
- Brilliant Women
- Chartist Portraits
- Mary, Queen of Scots
- Nelson: before and after Trafalgar
- Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Art Conservation Project
- Rebel women
- Theodore de Mayerne
- Tudor and Elizabethan matching pairs
- Popular Prints of Victoria and Albert
- Gunpowder, Treason and Plot
- Searching for Shakespeare
Recommended Events
- Icons and Identities: Shakespeare to Winehouse
Until 17 July
Tell us more
Join & Support
Framed & unframed prints
Choose your favourite portrait from our Collection as a framed or unframed print for your home.