John Townsend ('The Towns-end')
3 of 6 portraits of John Townsend
© National Portrait Gallery, London
John Townsend ('The Towns-end')
by and published by Robert Dighton
hand-coloured etching, published 4 December 1804
10 3/4 in. x 8 in. (272 mm x 204 mm) paper size
Given by Henry Witte Martin, 1861
Reference Collection
NPG D13419
Artistback to top
- Robert Dighton (1751-1814), Portrait painter, caricaturist and actor. Artist or producer associated with 320 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.
Events of 1804back to top
Current affairs
William Pitt returns to office and forms a second coalition administration, retaining many of those who had served under his predecessor Henry Addington but specifically excluding his arch rival Charles James Fox .Art and science
William Blake starts writing Jerusalem. One of his most ambitious allegorical poems, it took nearly eight years to complete.Amidst infighting about submissions to the annual exhibition, attempts are made to unseat painter Benjamin West as President of the Royal Academy and elect architect James Wyatt instead.
International
Napoleon declares himself Emperor of France and is crowned as Napoleon I by Pope Pius VII in Paris.Haiti achieves independence led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, the patriot and martyr who had seized control from the French in 1801. He becomes a symbolic figure of freedom for the British anti-slavery movement.
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