The Political Platonic Lovers (Catharine Macaulay (née Sawbridge); Thomas Wilson)

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The Political Platonic Lovers (Catharine Macaulay (née Sawbridge); Thomas Wilson)

published by Archibald Hamilton Jr
line engraving, published 10 January 1777
4 1/8 in. x 6 7/8 in. (106 mm x 175 mm) plate size; 5 1/8 in. x 8 1/4 in. (131 mm x 210 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D32138

Sittersback to top

Artistback to top

  • Archibald Hamilton Jr (died 1792), Printer and publisher. Artist or producer associated with 34 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Eger, Elizabeth; Peltz, Lucy, Brilliant Women: 18th Century Bluestockings, 2008 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 13 March to 15 June 2008), p. 99 Read entry

    The Town & Country Magazine's series of illustrated articles on the 'romantic' history of the subjects depicted, 'Tête-à-Tête', was published between 1762 and 1792. While the format of the illustrations consciously emulated marriage portraits or miniatures exchanged by lovers, the pairings were often rather more scurrilous or cynical than first appeared.

Placesback to top

Portrait setback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1777back to top

Current affairs

Trent and Mersey Canal is completed under the supervision of engineer James Brindley.
Philanthropist and reformer John Howard publishes his study The State of the Prisons in England and Wales.

Art and science

Artist James Barry begins his monumental series of paintings The Progress of Human Culture for the Great Room of the Society of Arts in London. He completes it in 1783.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's second play, The School for Scandal, is an immediate success in London's Drury Lane Theatre.
Entrepreneur William Bass establishes the Bass Brewery at Burton upon Trent.

International

American War of Independence: George Washington, heavily defeated at the Battle of Brandywine, is forced to relinquish Philadelphia to the British under General William Howe. At the two Battles of Saratoga only weeks later General John Burgoyne is forced to surrender to the Americans, marking a turning point in the war. The Continental Congress agrees the final version of the Articles of Confederation, defining the terms on which states join the Union.

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