John Wilkinson
12 of 78 portraits by Lemuel Francis Abbott
- Overview
- Extended catalogue entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue
John Wilkinson
after Lemuel Francis Abbott
based on a work of late 1790s
29 in. x 24 1/4 in. (737 mm x 616 mm)
NPG 3785
This portraitback to top
Abbott’s original portrait, which remains unidentified, was engraved in 1799. [1] NPG 3785 is not of prime quality; the hands are crudely drawn, the waistcoat skimped and the highlights perhaps too emphatic. Other versions are with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, Telford (ex-Sotheby’s, 26 July 1978, lot 149), and the Maelor Museum Service, Wrexham (ex-Sotheby’s 14 July 1993, lot 70); a third was sold Sotheby’s, 4 July 2002, lot 96a. A provincial derivation, the right hand tucked into the waistcoat, is in the Wolverhampton Art Gallery. [2]
Footnotesback to top
1) G. Atkinson 1799 (‘from an original Picture by Mr Abbot’; without hands), for the Agricultural Mag. November 1799 (unrecorded by O’Donoghue; a photograph was brought to the NPG by H. W. Dickinson in 1951).
2) Cat., 1974, p 65; illus.H. W. Dickinson, John Wilkinson, 1914, front. (detail), and J. Randall, The Wilkinsons, 1917, front.
Physical descriptionback to top
Blue eyes, ruddy complexion, wearing a powdered wig, a dull-green coat and black waistcoat.
Provenanceback to top
E. H. H. Shorting of Broseley, Salop; C. Marshall Spink 1940; H. W. Dickinson, from whom purchased 1951.
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 John Wilkinson