Robert Baddeley

This portraitback to top

Baddeley is shown in character as Canton in Colman and Garrick’s Clandestine Marriage, a role he played first at Drury Lane in 1766 and last on 30 September 1794 (he died on 19 November).
NPG 2541 relates closely to the superior pen drawing in the Garrick Club which bears the same inscription as Harding’s print cited above. Ashton attributed the Garrick drawing to Richard Cosway [1] and suggested that, with NPG 2541, it may derive from a lost original, perhaps by Cosway.

Footnotesback to top

1) G. Ashton, Pictures in the Garrick Club, ed. K. A. Burnim & A. Wilton, 1997, no.19.

Physical descriptionback to top

Blue-grey velvet coat with black collar and silver floral patterned trim.

Provenanceback to top

Purchased from A. W. Holliday 1932.

Reproductionsback to top

S. Harding 1794 (Mr Baddeley in the Character of Canton in the Clandestine Marriage).


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

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