William Bullock

This portraitback to top

An early 19th-century copy from a portrait engraved by Thomas Johnson c.1710 as Tho. Johnson fecit et advivum pinxt. (J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 2). [1] No painting is known [2] and the print remains the only known likeness of Bullock.
A similar watercolour copy belongs to the Garrick Club. [3]

Footnotesback to top

1) The print is very rare; an example in the British Museum. Later derivations are a stipple engraving as bust-length oval (F. O’Donoghue & H. M. Hake, Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits in the … British Museum, 2) and a copy of it by Augustus Toedteberg (Harvard Theatre Collection; illus. P. H. Highfill, K. A. Burnim & E. A. Langhans, A Biographical Dictionary of Stage Personnel in London, 1661-1800, II, p 409).
2) Of the eight mezzotints by Johnson listed by Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, two others are letteredTho Johnson pinx[t] et fec[it], but no paintings by Johnson are recorded.
3) G. Ashton, ed. K. A. Burnim & A. Wilton, Pictures in the Garrick Club, 1997, no.99 as by Sylvester Harding.

Referenceback to top

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, p 44.

Provenanceback to top

A. W. Holliday, from whom purchased 1932.


This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685-1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, 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.

View all known portraits for William Bullock