Unknown sitter, formerly known as Mary, Queen of Scots

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Unknown sitter, formerly known as Mary, Queen of Scots

by George Vertue
line engraving, 1725
12 in. x 7 3/4 in. (306 mm x 196 mm) plate size; 12 3/8 in. x 8 1/8 in. (315 mm x 207 mm) paper size
Reference Collection
NPG D10546

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • George Vertue (1683-1756), Engraver and antiquary. Artist or producer associated with 865 portraits, Sitter in 7 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This engraving reproduces a painting that was regarded in the eighteenth century as one of the most important portraits of Mary; it was known as the 'Carleton' type after one of its owners. It was believed to have been painted by the Italian artist Federico Zuccaro (c. 1540 - 1609). In fact the painting was neither by Zuccaro nor of Mary. At the time this print was made the painting belonged to the famous arbiter of taste and patron of the arts Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington. It was copied many times and reproduced in many prints, this one made as an illustration to Samuel Jebb's book, De Vita et Rebus Gestis Mariae Scotorum Reginae.

Related worksback to top

  • NPG D10548: Unknown sitter, formerly known as Mary, Queen of Scots (based on same portrait)
  • NPG D10547: Unknown sitter, formerly known as Mary, Queen of Scots (based on same portrait)
  • NPG D25055: Unknown sitter, formerly known as Mary, Queen of Scots (based on same portrait)

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1725back to top

Current affairs

Notorious 'Thief Taker General' Jonathan Wild is hanged at Tyburn. He ran one of the most successful gangs of thieves of the era, while appearing to be the nation's leading policeman.
Pardoned Jacobite leader Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke forms an opposition to the Prime Minister Robert Walpole.
Order of the Bath is founded by King George I.

Art and science

Poet Alexander Pope produces a new edition of Shakespeare, which he rewrites and edits in numerous places.
Philosopher Francis Hutcheson publishes his first major work An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, published in two treatises concerning aesthetics and morality.

International

Russian tsar Peter the Great dies.
Treaty of Hanover between England, France and Prussia.
Composer Antonio Vivaldi debuts the set of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons.
Composer Johann Sebastian Bach debuts his Easter Oratorio in Leipzig.

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