Edward Smith Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby
3 of 65 portraits of Edward Smith Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Edward Smith Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby
by George Keating, published by William Austin, after Thomas Gainsborough
mezzotint, published 20 May 1785
20 in. x 14 in. (508 mm x 356 mm) plate size; 20 3/8 in. x 14 1/4 in. (516 mm x 361 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D35034
Sitterback to top
- Edward Smith Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby (1752-1834), Sportsman and patron of horse-racing. Sitter associated with 65 portraits.
Artistsback to top
- William Austin (1721-1820), Drawing master and engraver. Artist or producer associated with 14 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.
- Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), Portrait and landscape painter. Artist or producer associated with 268 portraits, Sitter in 8 portraits.
- George Keating (1762-1842), Engraver and bookseller. Artist or producer associated with 10 portraits.
Events of 1785back to top
Current affairs
George Prince of Wales secretly marries his mistress Maria Fitzherbert in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772.Prime Minister William Pitt introduces a bill proposing parliamentary reform and the abolition of 'rotten boroughs' but is defeated.
Art and science
William Cowper publishes his best -known poem The Task.James Boswell publishes The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, narrating his travels with the late writer Samuel Johnson.
Physician and naturalist James Hutton presents his studies of local rocks to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, launching the era of scientific geology.
International
Warren Hastings resigns as Governor-General of Bengal and returns to England. His trial begins on charges of corruption in the administration of India.French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon crosses the Atlantic to sculpt a statue of George Washington.
British government establishes a permanent land force in the Eastern Caribbean, based in Barbados.
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