Unknown man, formerly known as Peter Collinson

Inscriptionback to top

Signed and dated, lower right: NH/1765.

This portraitback to top

Since at least 1927 identified as the naturalist Peter Collinson (1694-1768), [1] but comparison with his portrait attributed to Benjamin Wilson [2] and the somewhat crabby engravings derived from it, is not conclusive. Nor is the red velvet suit entirely consonant with that distinctive ‘simplicity of character’ which Collinson is said to have acquired from his Quaker parents (DNB); he was otherwise described as ‘rather short than tall [with] ... a pleasing and social aspect [and] a temper open and communicative’. [3]

Footnotesback to top

1) Who continued his Quaker father’s textile business with America; a friend of Benjamin Franklin; FRS 1728; FSA 1737; he introduced many exotic plant species from America.
2) Holding a paper dated 1767; Mill Hill School, previously sold Christie’s, 16 June 1939, lot 13, as Gainsborough. According to Collinson’s son Michael (1728-95), his father sat in Bath to Gainsborough in 1767 (N. Brett-James, Life of Peter Collinson, 1925, p 284). Offered to the NPG in May 1907 by Hughes & Tillman, together with a half-length version or copy. Four bust-length oval engravings derived from this type: by Trotter 1770, J. Miller 1770, Page, and anon. (London Mag.). A half-length painting, inscribed Peter Collinson Aeta 65 1759 FRS SAS Acad Reg Berol Et suec Soc, was with Col. H. L. Aylmer, a direct descendant, of Risby Manor, Bury St Edmunds, in 1936.
3) J. Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, V, p 312.

Referenceback to top

Smithsonian, October 1971, p 125 (as Gainsborough).

Walker 1998
R. J. B. Walker, A Catalogue of paintings, drawings, engravings and sculpture in The Palace of Westminster compiled during 1959-77, 4 vols., 1988, [type-script in NPG archive], no.48.

Physical descriptionback to top

Clear blue eyes, grey powdered wig, wearing a white lace neckcloth and a pale red velvet coat.

Provenanceback to top

Hon Frederic H. A. Wallop (d. 1953), by whom lent to the Victoria and Albert Museum 1927-49; his nephew Alan Evans, by whom bequeathed to the National Gallery 1974; lent to the NPG until permanently transferred in 1994.


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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