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William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt

1 of 3 portraits by Richard Collins

William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt, by Richard Collins, circa 1780 -NPG 5561 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue

William Harcourt, 3rd Earl Harcourt

attributed to Richard Collins
circa 1780
1 3/4 in. x 1 1/2 in. (44 mm x 38 mm) oval
NPG 5561

Inscriptionback to top

The back of the frame is incised WILLIAM 3RD EARL HARCOURT B.1743.D.1830

This portraitback to top

The back of the frame is incised WILLIAM 3RD EARL HARCOURT B.1743.D.1830., and the likeness has been copied from the Reynolds group portrait of 1780. NPG 5561 was sold in 1982-83 as by Richard Collins, an attribution which is stylistically possible but unproved.

Physical descriptionback to top

Blue eyes, white powdered hair with a black ribbon, as colonel of the 16th Light Dragoons,1 wearing the red coat with blue facings and silver and gold trim, with brass buttons and gold epaulette.

1 With the distinctive split fringe to the epaulette, cf. Journal for the Society of Army Historical Research, XXXVI,1958, p 33.

Provenanceback to top

Anon. sale, Christie’s, 8 December 1982, lot 239, bought in, and 28 February 1983, lot 195, bought Leggatt for the NPG.


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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