John Wesley

This portraitback to top

NPG 271 is not incised or dated and, apart from the plaster copy taken at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1925, for Lincoln College, Oxford, no other versions are known. The portrait has been associated with the popular bust of 1781 by Wood (see All Known Portraits) which shows a scar on the forehead and although earlier, makes the sitter look as old as in NPG 271, due perhaps to Wesley's premature ageing. No scar is seen in NPG 271 and the two rows of curls, a distinctive feature in portraits from life, have here merged in an indecisive line. This seems to indicate there was no sitting. An attribution to Roubiliac proposed by the vendor Henry Graves is no longer tenable. Mrs Esdaile, in 1928, advanced the hypothesis that it was the 'Bust of the Rev. Mr. Westley - Silvester' in the RA exhibition of 1788 (609). [1] Mr Silvester (d. 1791) and Mrs Silvester (or Sylvester, fl. 1780-94) were modellers in wax of Irish origin. [2] An artist by the name of Silvester exhibited six wax models at the Free Society, 1782 (223-26, 235-36). [3]
Catalogue descriptions at this date are not rigorous. The word bust without qualification seems generally to indicate a plaster as for example 'Bust of Dr. Herschell' by Lochée, also in the 1788 exhibition (654), in all probability, the plaster or a version of it, now NPG 4055. Two marble busts by Mrs Damer (599, 607) exhibited in 1788, were described: 'Head of a child in the character of Paris (marble)' and 'Head of a boy, in the character of Bacchus (marble)'; also by her (652) 'a dog terra cotta'. In addition to no.609, Silvester exhibited three heads in the 'Room of Sculpture and Drawing' in 1788: 'Bust of Lord Hood' (596), 'His Royal Highness the Duke of York' (655) and 'Bust of Lord Rodney' (656). York, without qualifying description, might conceivably have been no more than a drawing although there are references, in the press of 1785 and 1787, to waxes of him. [4] The other two busts by Silvester are untraced. Mrs Esdaile in the same article, 1928, drew attention to a marble bust of Rodney formerly in the Royal United Service Museum [5] which, on comparison with NPG 271, appeared to be by the same hand. There is, however, no known portrait of Wesley by Silvester, nor is there any firm evidence equating NPG 271 with the bust exhibited in 1788. The handling suggests that it may well be posthumous, perhaps early 19th century.

Footnotesback to top

1) Esdaile, The Times (article), 5 March 1928.
2) E. J. Pyke, A Biographical Dictionary of Wax Modellers, 1973, pp 143-44.
3) A. Graves, The Society of Artists and The Free Society, 1760-1791, 1907, p 234.
4) V & A library, press cutting books.
5) Now called the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, contents dispersed 1963.

Physical descriptionback to top

Eyes not incised, strongly marked eyebrows, protruding lower lip, angular jaw, own hair, or wig, centre-parted, curled at ends; elderly appearance; bands and gown.

Conservationback to top

A small flaw or mark in the marble in line with the sitter's left eye; cleaned 1896, 1899.

Provenanceback to top

Purchased, 1868, from Henry Graves.


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 John Wesley