Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake ('A view of a lake')

1 portrait by Richard Dighton

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake ('A view of a lake')

by and published by Richard Dighton
hand-coloured etching, published May 1818
11 1/2 in. x 7 3/4 in. (293 mm x 198 mm) paper size
Reference Collection
NPG D13500

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Richard Dighton (1795-1880), Portrait painter and caricaturist. Artist or producer associated with 313 portraits, Sitter associated with 1 portrait.

This portraitback to top

Lake was appointed Lieutenant-General of Ireland in 1797 and given the task of disarming the increasingly militant United Irishmen in Ulster. This was not enough however to prevent the Rebellion of the following year. Lake led British troops against the rebels in the famous confrontation at Vinegar Hill, Wexford. Having secured a decisive victory, he imposed severe repressive measures under martial law. He also forced the French to surrender after their invasion on the west coast. This was to be the end of his involvement with Ireland though he was put into the Irish parliament for Armagh a year later in order to vote for the Act of Union (1801).

Related worksback to top

  • NPG D8556: Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake ('A view of a lake') (from same plate)
  • NPG D13336: Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake ('A view of a lake') (from same plate)
  • NPG D13391: Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake ('A view of a lake') (from same plate)

Events of 1818back to top

Current affairs

Death of Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, George III's Queen since 1761.
Official enquiry initiated into Queen Caroline's conduct abroad.

Art and science

Mary Shelley anonymously publishes her masterpiece Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus which reflects growing concern about the role of morality in science.
Lord Byron completes his romance Childe Harolde's Pilgrimage, whose gloomy, dissolute hero was probably based on the writer himself.

International

Stamford Raffles acquires authorisation to construct a fort at Singapore marking the beginning of its development as a centre of East-West trade.
Congress of European Alliance at Aix-La-Chapelle. Lord Castlereagh plays a central role in establishing a pan-Europe peace settlement to bring a chastened France back into the world of political respectability.

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