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John Wilkinson

12 of 78 portraits by Lemuel Francis Abbott

John Wilkinson, by Lemuel Francis Abbott, based on a work of late 1790s -NPG 3785 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© 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.

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