Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset
by Jacobus Houbraken, published by John & Paul Knapton
line engraving, published 1749
14 5/8 in. x 9 in. (370 mm x 228 mm) plate size; 19 3/4 in. x 13 3/4 in. (503 mm x 349 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D41812
Sitterback to top
- Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset (1587-1645), Favourite of James I. Sitter associated with 19 portraits.
Artistsback to top
- Jacobus Houbraken (1698-1780), Engraver. Artist or producer associated with 435 portraits.
- John & Paul Knapton (active 1735-1789), Booksellers and publishers. Artist or producer associated with 290 portraits.
Related worksback to top
- NPG D18900: Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset (from same plate)
- NPG D25787: Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset (from same plate)
- NPG D41813: Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset (from same plate)
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1749back to top
Current affairs
Royal Fireworks in Green Park to celebrate the Peace of Aix-La-Chapelle. 10,000 rockets are let off at a cost of £8,000. Composer George Frideric Handel's accompanying Music for the Royal Fireworks is performed for the first time.George II is introduced to William Ansah Sessarakoo the 'Prince of Annamaboe'. The son of a wealthy chief from the West African Gold Coast, he had been taken prisoner and made a slave in the West Indies.
Art and science
Horace Walpole buys the house and grounds which he will transform into his neo-Gothic fantasy, Strawberry Hill, in Twickenham, London.Henry Fielding publishes his comic novel Tom Jones.
John Cleland's erotic novel Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) is published. The author is released from debtor's prison but arrested again later in the year and charged with corrupting the King's subjects.
International
George II grants a charter to Ohio Company to settle Ohio valley in the American colonies.British settlement of Halifax, Nova Scotia is founded.
Sugar planters found Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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