Unknown man, formerly known as Charles Mathews

Physical descriptionback to top

Head and shoulders to left in dark brown coat with black facings, black bow-tie, white shirt; reddish-brown hair, dark blue eyes with slight squint (? blind), pale complexion, smiling expression; plain drab background.

Provenanceback to top

Henry Bussell and offered by him in August 1908 as Charles Mathews, comedian (1776-1835); Arthur B. Hayward and bought from him in December 1908 (8). He appears in the NPG Catalogues as Charles Mathews until the supplement to the 1914 edition where it is noted as withdrawn from exhibition. Since then it has been classified as 'Unknown Sitter called Charles Mathews'. But he appears to be a man, possibly an actor, aged about 50, painted c.1840, but bearing very little resemblance to the accepted portraits of Charles Mathews.


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 Charles Mathews