Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings

Inscriptionback to top

Inscribed in ink: Lord Hastings 1820.

This portraitback to top

The donor, Canon Atkinson, wrote to the Director informing him of a letter from Lord Minto to his father thanking him for a portrait of Lord Hastings and mentioning this drawing - 'as to the likeness all Lord Hastings' old friends say it is the best portrait of him now in England. The pen and ink portrait which I have given to the Portrait Gallery was no doubt the sketch from life which my father used to paint from' (letter dated 20 December 1890 in NPG archive). Atkinson was assistant assay master of the Calcutta Mint during Lord Hastings's tenure of office as Governor-General of India.

Physical descriptionback to top

The paper is mounted on a sheet numbered 2 and containing seven pen and ink drawings by Atkinson of men smoking, carrying loads, a goat and an ox's head.

Provenanceback to top

Given by the artist's son, the Rev Canon J. A. Atkinson, in 1890, together with an oil sketch of Lord Minto.


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.

View all known portraits for James Atkinson

View all known portraits for Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings