John Philip Kemble

1 portrait of John Philip Kemble

John Philip Kemble, by Sir Thomas Lawrence, circa 1800 -NPG 2616 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Regency Portraits Catalogue

John Philip Kemble

attributed to Sir Thomas Lawrence
circa 1800
11 in. x 7 in. (279 mm x 178 mm)
NPG 2616

Inscriptionback to top

Inscribed in ink in Lawrence's hand: Kindly ask Mr Kemble to return Sketch to Sir Thomas tomorrow.

This portraitback to top

The drawing appears to be a copy, but not in Lawrence's hand, of his portrait of Kemble as 'Hamlet' in the Tate Gallery (142), exhibited RA 1801 and presented to the National Gallery by William IV in 1836. The inscription is in Lawrence's autograph and presumably written after 1815 when he was knighted (see Kenneth Garlick, ‘Catalogue of Paintings, Drawings and Pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence’ in Walpole Society Journal, XXXIX, p 231).

Physical descriptionback to top

Whole-length as 'Hamlet' holding Yorick's skull.

Provenanceback to top

Bequeathed by Richard Henry Bath 1933.


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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