First Previous 44 OF 3516 NextLast

Constantine John Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave

44 of 3516 portraits matching these criteria:

- subject matching 'Pencil'

Constantine John Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave, by John Downman, 1782 -NPG 966 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue

Constantine John Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave

by John Downman
1782
8 1/4 in. x 6 3/4 in. (210 mm x 171 mm)
NPG 966

Inscriptionback to top

Inscribed by the artist in ink lower right, written over an erased pencil inscription: Admiral 2d Lord Mulgrave. Original study 1782/He was Constantine John Phipps. Of distinguished/ Bravery and Ability./He was casually in the habit of speaking in two/very different Voices, which by an accident I was surprised to hear - The wit Capn. Payne coming in, told a facetious tale of the Admiral.1/I drew two of this.
Numbered 21 top right.

1 Mulgrave was not an admiral, but a lord of the Admiralty (1777-1782).

This portraitback to top

Part of Downman’s inscription is borne out by Wraxall, who remarked upon Mulgrave’s ‘singularity of physical conformation, possessing two distinct voices, the one strong and hoarse, the other shrill and querulous’. [1]

Footnotesback to top

1) The Historical and Posthumous Memoirs of Sir Nathaniel Wraxall 1772-1784, II, 1884, p 173.

Physical descriptionback to top

Brown eyes, grey powdered hair with a queue.

Provenanceback to top

Purchased from Colnaghi 1894.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, 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 Constantine John Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave