Hercules Brabazon Brabazon

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Hercules Brabazon Brabazon

by William Rothenstein
sanguine and pastel, circa 1895
10 in. x 8 in. (254 mm x 203 mm)
Accepted in lieu of tax by H.M. Government and allocated to the Gallery, 2005
Primary Collection
NPG 6687

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Sir William Rothenstein (1872-1945), Artist and teacher of art. Artist or producer associated with 222 portraits, Sitter in 24 portraits.

This portraitback to top

A cultured country gentleman, whose passion for painting in watercolours (he carried his paint box with him wherever he went) was held to be an amiable trait, he had been quietly filling portfolios with lovely drawings for 60 years,' wrote William Rothenstein of his sitter. 'One night, dining with a friend, [John Singer] Sargent noticed some drawings on the wall, and was told they were Brabazon's. He at once recognised their unique qualities; and Brabazon at the age of 80 found himself suddenly accepted as a master of his craft, elected a member of the New English Art Club, and enjoying the esteem of the younger generation.

Linked publicationsback to top

Events of 1895back to top

Current affairs

Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is first performed, the same year that he is imprisoned for homosexual offences following accusations made against him by the eighth Marquess of Queensbury. Whilst in prison, Wilde wrote De Profundis, a letter addressed to his former lover, Queensbury's son Lord Alfred Douglas, attacking him for his role in Wilde's imprisonment.
Prime Minister Lord Rosebery resigns and is succeeded by Salisbury.

Art and science

The Lumiere brothers hold the first public screening of movies at Paris's Salon Indien du Grand Café, featuring ten short films recorded with Leon Bouly's cinematographe device, recognised as the birth of cinema as a commercial medium.
Henry Irving, the celebrated actor and theatre manager, becomes the first actor to receive a knighthood.

International

In South Africa, prompted by the growing unrest of unfranchised British immigrants (Uitlanders) drawn to the Transvaal by the discovery of gold, Rhodes and other members of the South African mining community begin to plot the republic's overthrow. As a result, the disastrous Jameson Raid takes place, carried out on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic by Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen: it fails to bring about an Uitlander uprising.

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