John Hough

Inscriptionback to top

Inscribed in ink on the back of the card: D^r Huff/Bishop of Litchfield. [1]
The wooden backboard is inscribed: Died 1745/Huff/Bp of [Winchester?], and in another hand: Painted by Digby/Bp of Elphin; a label now in the picture dossier, in an 18th century hand: John Hough D D/Bishop of Winchester [sic]/Died 1743. (Painted by Digby. B^p of Elphin)/Was made Bishop of Oxford. 1690/Translated to Litchfield and/Coventry 1699/Do. to Worcestor 1717, and in pencil the figure 14 (a lot number?); also a printed slip giving biographical details of the sitter, possibly from a sale catalogue.

1) Below this another faint ink inscription in reverse, as though the miniature had rested on some unblotted writing: the Duch. of S - - -

This portraitback to top

Identification rests on the inscription as well as on comparison with other portraits by Digby and of the sitter. Simon Digby (d. 1720) was the son of Essex Digby, Bishop of Dromore, Ireland. He became chaplain to the Earl of Ossory in 1668, Bishop of Limerick, 1678, and with the help of Bishop Hough, Bishop of Elphin in 1691. [1] Richard Congreve, chaplain to Bishop Hough, noted that 'Dr Digby ... drew one of the best likenesses of my Lord' and that he had 'a fine art of painting in miniature'. Examples of his work are in the National Museum, Dublin, [2] and seventy miniatures are known to have appeared in property sold by his descendants. [3] Hough did not stay long in Ireland but his association continued in the years 1678-85 when he was domestic chaplain to the Duke of Ormonde, lord lieutenant of Ireland.

Footnotesback to top

1) 'Table-Talk of Bishop Hough', ed. W. D. Macray, Oxford Historical Society, XVI (Collectanea, II), 1890, p 394.
2) W. G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists, 1913, I, pp 277-78, pl.xx.
3) Ibid.

Physical descriptionback to top

Black eyes, prominent nose, bluish chin, pale complexion, brown wig to shoulders; white bands, rochet and chimere; brown background, darker on the left.

Conservationback to top

Some discolourations in the wig, bands and chimere due to oxidisation of the whites; the vellum is slightly buckled; repaired 1975; otherwise good.

Provenanceback to top

Presented, 1950, by the Museums and Library Committee, Winchester City Council, who had received it, 1928, from Mrs E. E. Wilde, an honorary curator of Winchester City Museum; previous history unknown.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Kerslake, Early Georgian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1977, 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 John Hough