Sir Thomas Robinson, 1st Bt

Inscriptionback to top

Signed lower right: F Vander Mijn/1750

This portraitback to top

In 1750 Robinson was awarded an annual government pension of £500. NPG 5275 may express his satisfaction, as well as his pretence and learning; richly dressed and elegantly posed, he reads his dead wife’s verses, [1] while advertising his appreciation of Palladio and Shakespeare.

Footnotesback to top

1) Vol.I of her works (which appear not to have been printed) stands on the table; he presumably reads from vol.II.

Referenceback to top

Staring 1968
A. Staring, Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, XIX, 1968, p 200 (18).

Physical descriptionback to top

Blue eyes, grey powdered wig, wearing a blue satin coat lined with white, white satin waistcoat with gold buttons, black velvet breeches and white silk stockings;¹ on the table, which is covered by a green cloth, are dividers and books entitled PALLAD/ARCHI/VOL/I and SHAKES/PEAR and LADY LECHMERES/WORKS/VOL I; he turns the pages of a manuscript in which may be read ON THE/COMPAGNIA OF NAPLES/No boisterous Wind the Growing Spring to blast/The Glowing Sumer rip’ning all for taste/The loaden Autumn yielding up her Store/Winter with hoary frost not Whitn’d Oer<sup>2

1</sup> See A. Ribeiro, The Gallery of Fashion, 2000, pp 118-19.
² Lines presumably written by his dead wife.

Provenanceback to top

Lady Rosamond Cary (d. 1985);¹ Leggatt, from whom purchased 1979.

¹ Wife of Sir Robert Cary, Bt (d. 1979); her mother was the daughter of the 4th son of the 4th Baron Rokeby; the 1st Baron Rokeby, created 1777, was Bishop Richard Robinson (c.1708-94), the sitter’s brother.

Exhibitionsback to top

English Taste in the 18th century, RA, 1955-56 (85) lent Lady Cary; Beningbrough 1981-.


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.

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