Unknown man, formerly known as Richard Wilson

This portraitback to top

NPG 1327 appears in this catalogue because it was once supposed to be a self portrait of Richard Wilson [1]. But it is an unsophisticated self portrait apparently of c.1735 (Cooper compared the sitter with ‘some inmate of Newgate prison’). A similar portrait appears in the background of a portrait of Lancelot Tolson Tilly of c.1735, sold Sotheby’s, 7 April 1965, lot 181.

Footnotesback to top

1) Illus. as such A. Bury, Richard Wilson, 1947, pl.1.

Referenceback to top

Cooper 1948
D. Cooper, Burl. Mag., XC, 1948, p 115.

Physical descriptionback to top

Blue eyes, purple beret, wearing a blue coat; his palette displaying, left to right: blue, green, two umbers, red and yellow; a blank canvas on the easel and a green drape to the left.

Provenanceback to top

Presented by Sir Hugh Percy Lane 1902.


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 Richard Wilson