Peter Scheemakers

Inscriptionback to top

Under a strong raking light there appears to be writing on the plinth about 3 in. above the head of the statuette; on the back of the relining canvas, in ink in an early hand, a paper lists the following statues in the Abbey: A fait a Westminster/les monuments/Shakspere 1740/Viscount Hove [1] 1758/William Horner 1746/John Woodward 1758/Richard Mead 1764/Hugo Chamberlen 1728/Lord Beauclerk 1740/Hon. Percy Kirk 1741/Sir John Balchin 1744/Vice admiral Watson 1757/Admiral Wager 1747.
In ink on the centre bar, perhaps from the original stretcher now let into the relining stretcher: Peint en 1776 [2] par Dequertenmont Pierre Gaspard Scheemakers statuaire/fils de Pierre aussi statuaire/né à Anvers 10 Janvier 1691 mort à Anvers 12 7bre 1781 voyage en Angleterre et Italie ... tableau appartenant a Mlle Genevieve Catharine Schemaekers puis à Marie Julie Duboureq femme Thib[aut] petite niece du Sta[tuaire]/par sa mè[re].
On the top bar of the stretcher, remnants of another inscription now completely illegible.

1) Hove, i.e. Howe; also Homer (Horneck), Balchin (Balchen), Beauclerk (Beauclerc).
2) The last figure indistinct, possibly '8'.

This portraitback to top

Painted by André Bernard de Quertenmont (1750-1835), director of the Academy in Antwerp from 1790, NPG 2675 was no doubt executed after Scheemakers' return in 1771. The model for his famous Shakespeare shown in the background, perhaps taken with him to Antwerp, is now missing. Despite existing losses and damages (see Conservation), NPG 2675 remains a powerful portrait.

Physical descriptionback to top

Dark brown, bloodshot eyes, dark brown eyebrows, his left flecked with grey, sagging face muscles, lips parted, tooth missing in lower jaw, pale complexion, grey wig with eight rows of curls, to shoulders; white neck-cloth, black coat and waistcoat, cloak over his left shoulder; hands clasped on cane, terracotta of his statuette of Shakespeare, upper right; brown background; strongly lit from the right.

Conservationback to top

Rubbed and retouched, damage to his left pupil and in the background either side of the head; heavily discoloured varnish.

Provenanceback to top

Bought, 1934, from Henri F. Rummel, Paris; from the inscription presumably by descent from the sitter through Genevieve Catherine Scheemakers to Mme Thibaut, née Marie Julie Duboureq, great-niece of the sitter; intervening history unknown.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Kerslake, Early Georgian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1977, 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 Peter Scheemakers