George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland

This portraitback to top

The portrait first appears listed in Phillips's Sitter Book (MS copy in NPG library) dated 20 March 1805 as Earl Gower, the title he had relinquished for the Marquessate of Stafford on the death of his father in 1803, so presumably it was commissioned before then. However he was not nominated KG until March 1806, the Star of the Garter being added later, probably in 1814 when the Sitter Book records another portrait as Marquess of Stafford, dated 4 March 1814; this seems to have been the portrait exhibited RA 1814 and British Institution 1825 and engraved by Meyer in 1817 and Young in 1824. No portrait by Phillips of the 2nd Duke is recorded in the NPG archive. An enamel copy of NPG 1298 by Henry Bone, signed and dated 1820, is at Arundel Castle (304); two drawings for this are in the NPG library (Henry Bone’s annotated pencil drawings for miniatures and enamels, II, 26, 28). Phillips's portrait of the 1st Duke appears on the floor in the oil sketch by P. C. Wonder of Lord Dover and Lord Grosvenor as 'Patrons and Lovers of Art', NPG 794.
A version or copy of NPG 1298 was sold by the 5th Duke of Sutherland at Christie's 22 October 1948 (45) and possibly again at Debenham Coe 8 March 1972 (30).

Physical descriptionback to top

Head and shoulders to left in brown coat, white neckcloth, Ribbon and Star of the Garter; red-brown hair brushed forward, grey eyes, fresh complexion. There is no visible inscription.

Provenanceback to top

The Rev Samuel Ashton Thompson-Yates and given by him 1901.

Exhibitionsback to top

RA, 1814 (72); British Institution, 1825 (3) lent by the Marquess of Stafford.

Reproductionsback to top

Mezzotint by Henry Meyer 1817; mezzotint by John Young 1824, used as frontispiece to Young's Catalogue of the Stafford Collection at Cleveland House, 1825.


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.

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View all known portraits for George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland