Sir William Gell

Inscriptionback to top

Signed and dated in pencil lower left: Tho^s Uwins del^t/Naples 1830 and with William Gell in autograph cut out and fixed to the paper lower right.

This portraitback to top

The drawing was a product of Uwins's seven years' residence in Italy during which he visited
Naples where Gell lived with Keppel Craven in a house 'surrounded by books, drawings and maps, with a guitar and two or three dogs', receiving a constant stream of artists and distinguished visitors.
A variant drawing, nearly in profile to left, was engraved in stipple by Fenner, Sears & Co as frontispiece to his Pompeiana, 1832. This is probably the earlier watercolour drawing for which Gell wrote the artist a charming letter of thanks on 1 January 1826: 'Caro Uwinzino the gouty gentleman, if refined a little, like Marcus Tullius, is no doubt very like and very characteristic, and cannot be mistaken. I wish the gentleman had the means of encouraging the arts instead of being obliged to them' (Uwins, Memoir, II, p 351). It was exhibited SBA 1832 (653 watercolour), belonged to Lady Blessington and was described by Gell himself in a letter to her as 'I think like me but it is a little more unhappy than the Original'. He goes on to say that Uwins also made 'a small waxen profile' which had the same melancholy character (letter to Lady Blessington, Naples 26 October 1832, cited in Richard Madden, Literary Life and Correspondence of the Countess of Blessington, 1855, II, pp 62-3).

Physical descriptionback to top

Head and shoulders right hand to head.

Provenanceback to top

Possibly belonged to Lady Blessington; bought by the NPG from Benjamin Lester 1908.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, 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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