James Harris

by Charles (Cantelowe, Cantlo) Bestland, after Joseph Highmore
stipple engraving, 1740
Given by Henry Witte Martin, 1861
Reference Collection
NPG D3231

Sitterback to top

James Harris (1709-1780), Philosopher, critic, grammarian and politician; MP for Christchurch. Sitter in 3 portraits.

Artistsback to top

Charles (Cantelowe, Cantlo) Bestland (1763-1837), Painter. Artist associated with 25 portraits.
Joseph Highmore (1692-1780), Painter. Artist associated with 54 portraits.

Related worksback to top

NPG D14156: James Harris (from same plate)

Linked publicationsback to top

Ingamells, John, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, 2004, p. 237

Subject/Themeback to top

Stipple engraving

Events of 1740back to top

Current affairs

The song Rule, Britannia! by Thomas Arne is performed for the first time at Cliveden, the country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales.
A now discredited account by antiquarian William Stukely asserts that Stonehenge was built by druids.

Art and science

Samuel Richardson publishes the first two volumes of Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, the best-selling novel of the period.
Artists Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough both arrive in London. Reynolds is apprenticed to the leading portrait-painter Thomas Hudson, while Gainsborough begins his artistic training with the French engraver and illustrator Hubert-Francois Gravelot.

International

Death of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and the succession of his eldest daughter Maria Térèsa heralds the start of the War of the Austrian Succession. Britain, already fighting Spain (in the War of Jenkin's Ear), is drawn into the wider conflict as an ally of Austria until 1748.
Frederick II becomes King of Prussia.
Pope Benedict XIV succeeds Pope Clement XII as the 247th pope.

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