Thomas Hollis

by Giovanni Battista Cipriani
etching, 1767
11 in. x 8 3/8 in. (280 mm x 212 mm) plate size; 11 1/4 in. x 8 5/8 in. (287 mm x 218 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Whitin Fund, 1955
Reference Collection
NPG D46108

Sitterback to top

Thomas Hollis (1720-1774), Libertarian, writer, bibliophile and patron of the arts. Sitter in 3 portraits.

Artistback to top

Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727-1785), Painter and engraver. Artist or producer associated with 29 portraits, Sitter in 6 portraits.

Related worksback to top

NPG D46107: Thomas Hollis (from same plate)

Events of 1767back to top

Current affairs

Birth of Prince Edward, fourth son of George III and father of Queen Victoria.
Chancellor, Charles Townshend, passes a series of acts - the 'Townshend Duties' - taxing all glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported into the American colonies.
Work begins on Edinburgh's New Town, to the design of the 23-year-old architect James Craig.

Art and science

Josiah Spode establishes the Spode pottery manufactory at Stoke-on-Trent.
Philosopher and chemist Joseph Priestley publishes The History and Present State of Electricity.
First annual Nautical Almanac is produced by Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne, allowing mariners to find their longitude while at sea, using tables of lunar distances.

International

'Townshend Duties' cause uproar in America.
First Anglo-Mysore War breaks out between between the Sultanate of Mysore Hyder Ali and the East India Company.
Jesuits are expelled from Spain.
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon complete a four-year survey to establish the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland; the Mason-Dixon line.

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