John Newman

1 portrait of John Newman

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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John Newman

by Thomas Oldham Barlow, after Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Bt
mezzotint, 1884 (1881)
23 3/4 in. x 18 1/8 in. (603 mm x 460 mm) plate size; 28 1/2 in. x 22 1/8 in. (724 mm x 562 mm) paper size
Given by the daughters of the artist, Miss L.J. Barlow and her sister, 1910
Reference Collection
NPG D8098

Sitterback to top

  • John Henry Newman (1801-1890), Cardinal, theologian and saint; canonised 2019. Sitter in 37 portraits.

Artistsback to top

  • Thomas Oldham Barlow (1824-1889), Engraver and etcher. Artist or producer associated with 45 portraits, Sitter in 5 portraits.
  • Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Bt (1829-1896), Painter and President of the Royal Academy; ex-officio Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery. Artist or producer associated with 43 portraits, Sitter in 76 portraits.

Related worksback to top

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Foister, Susan, Cardinal Newman 1801-90, 1990 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 2 March - 20 May 1990), p. 76 Read entry

    As was common practice in the nineteenth century, Millais's portrait of Newman was to be engraved, and the engravings sold through the firm of Agnew's, who often acquired the work of painters in order to make a profit out of selling engravings. In this case the Catholic Union entered into an agreement with Agnew's over the engraved edition of the portrait, with the publication date fixed for 1 May 1884, apparently with the object of buying the painting and presenting it to the National Portrait Gallery. (Letter of 24 February 1885 from James Knowles to W. S. Lilly, Arundel Castle MSS).

    Unfortunately the edition was not the expected success; Agnew's therefore claimed the portrait, and the secretary of the Catholic Union, W. S. Lilly, was left to attempt to resolve the situation. Letters from Lilly to the 15th Duke of Norfolk in 1884 (Arundel Castle MSS) testify to the difficulties of his position and express his regret of the failure of 'our speculation'. Lengthy discussions with Agnew's took place, and Lilly said he had even obtained Newman's agreement to sit for another portrait in order to try to call Agnew's bluff, but the sequence of events ended with the Duke of Norfolk agreeing to purchase the picture: 'It will ensure the picture being in good and fitting keeping; which is the next best thing if it does not come to the nation'. (Letter from John Knowles to W. S. Lilly, 21 February 1885, Arundel Castle MSS).

Events of 1881back to top

Current affairs

Benjamin Disraeli dies of bronchitis. He refuses a state funeral and is buried next to his wife, Mary Ann Viscountess Beaconsfield.
Gladstone's Irish Land Act is passed in a bid to stop violence carried out by the republican Land League, conducted in protest at the 1870 Land Act.
Henry Mayers Hyndman forms the Marxist Democratic Federation.

Art and science

The Natural History Museum is opened on Exhibition Road, South Kensington. The museum, a landmark gothic design by the architect Alfred Waterhouse, was built to house specimens from the natural sciences, previously in the British Museum's collection. Today, the museum comprises of over 70 million items, and is a world-renowned research centre.

International

Alexander II is assassinated in a bomb attack by members of a left-wing revolutionary movement. He was succeeded by his son, Tsar Alexander III.
US President James Garfield is shot by Charles Guiteau.
The first Anglo-Boer war ends. The war is started by a Boer uprising, as the British had annexed the Transvaal in 1877. Following Britain's defeat at the Battle of Majuba Hill, a truce is signed giving the Boers self-government and later independence.

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