Sir William Grant

1 portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence

Sir William Grant, by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1817 -NPG 671 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Regency Portraits Catalogue

Sir William Grant

by Sir Thomas Lawrence
1817
93 1/2 in. x 57 1/2 in. (2375 mm x 1461 mm)
NPG 671

This portraitback to top

The portrait was commissioned from Lawrence 'by the Gentlemen of the Chancery Bar attending the Rolls Court' and presented to Grant on his retirement in 1817, 'to be hung in the Rolls Court for ever'. It stayed in the Rolls Court, Chancery Lane, until legislation dissolving the Court was passed in 1882 and after consultation with the Lord Chancellor, the then Master of the Rolls, Sir George Jessel, presented it to the NPG in February 1883 (letters from the Master of the Rolls January-February 1883 in NPG archive).

Physical descriptionback to top

Whole-length seated to left in robes as Master of the Rolls, holding paper; full-bottomed grey wig, light blue eyes, fresh complexion; crimson curtain background, red upholstered armchair.

Provenanceback to top

Master of the Rolls and on the dissolution of the Rolls Court transferred to the NPG 1883.

Exhibitionsback to top

RA, 1820 (171); British Institution, 1830 (42), Third Exhibition of National Portraits, South Kensington, 1868 (151); loan to the Royal Courts of Justice from 1958.

Reproductionsback to top

Large mixed line and stipple by R. Golding, undated; mezzotint by E. McInnes 1842.


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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