Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Bt

Inscriptionback to top

Inscribed bottom centre left: Rt. Honble./Sr. Wm. Wyndham/Chanc. of the Excheqr./1713.

This portraitback to top

He wears a lord chancellor’s gown, implying a date of 1713-14. The composition very closely resembles that of Richardson’s portrait of Richard West c.1725 (see NPG 17); a third close variant at Orchard Wyndham, [1] apparently shows a different head.
NPG 4447 appears to be by Jonathan Richardson, but it has been variously attributed in the past. An engraving of a similar head by J. Houbraken 1741 was inscribed ‘From a Painting of Mr Richardson belonging to Lord Bolingbroke'; [2] in 1825 it was engraved as by Kneller, and close versions at Petworth were catalogued in 1920 as by Dahl.
There are two versions at Petworth, [3] and others were listed with the Rev. W. Bury in 1867, [4] with T. Amherst Law in 1921 (the portrait identified as Simon, 1st Viscount Harcourt), and with J. Wyndham at Fairfield, Somerset, in 1922. A copy by John Hadley 1741 was commissioned by Wells City Council (Wells Town Hall).

Footnotesback to top

1) Illus. Country Life, CLXXVII, 28 March 1985, p 817 as Sir William Wyndham.
2) And a later engraving by C. Knight 1807, from a drawing by W. N. Gardiner, shows a half-length version of NPG 4447 lettered ‘From a Picture by Richardson, in the Marquis of Buckingham’s Collection at Stowe’; the painting was sold as by Kneller in the Stowe sale, day 21, 12 September 1848, lot 85, bought Uppleby. The sitter’s daughter married Sir George Grenville.
3) Cat. 1920, pp 22-23, nos.391, 490 as by Dahl (and see W. Nisser, Michael Dahl, 1927, cat. pp 49-50, no.166 as by Dahl). A typed addendum to the NPG copy of the Petworth cat. indicates that Oliver Millar rejected this Dahl attribution and suggested a Richardson type.
4) Exhibited Second Special Exhibition of National Portraits ( ... William and Mary to MDCCC), South Kensington, 1867, no.99.

Referenceback to top

Borenius 1921
T. Borenius, Cat. of Pictures at Northwick Park, 1921, p 128, no.332 as by Kneller.

Northwick cat., 1864, p 38, no.457 as by Kneller 1713.

Simon & Saywell (eds.) 2004
Complete Illustrated Catalogue, NPG, ed. J. Simon & D. Saywell, 2004, p 681.

Provenanceback to top

Northwick Park by 1864; by descent to Capt. E. G. Spencer-Churchill (d. 1965); his Trustees, from whom purchased by private treaty sale 1965.

Reproductionsback to top

J. Thomson 1825, from a drawing by W. Derby (inscribed Sir G. Kneller pinxt.).


This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685–1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, 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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