George Bridges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney

This portraitback to top

A crude copy of the original Reynolds at Petworth; [1] the uniform is skimped and the features misleadingly and incompetently softened. The Petworth portrait, first engraved by James Watson in 1762, [2] was possibly begun in 1756 (there is no Reynolds sitter book for that year) and modified in 1759 following his promotion to rear-admiral; he was at sea from August 1759 to February 1761, when he paid Reynolds 10 gn. Another copy was with the Buchholz Gallery, Philadelphia, in 1963.

Footnotesback to top

1) See D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, I, 2000, no.1544.
2) Plate reissued with short cuffs 1778, similar to an engraving by W. Dickinson 1780, although each was based upon a different version of the painting, see J. C. Smith, British Mezzotint Portraits, IV, p 1535.

Referenceback to top

Mannings 2000
D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, I, 2000, no.1544c.

Physical descriptionback to top

Brown eyes, dark hair, wearing the uniform of a rear-admiral.

Provenanceback to top

Purchased from Leggatt 1905.

Exhibitionsback to top

Bicentennial Center Opening, Yorktown, Va., 1976; War at Sea, Yorktown, Va., 1978.


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 Sir Joshua Reynolds

View all known portraits for George Bridges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney