William Godwin
1 portrait matching these criteria:
- npg number matching '1236'
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
William Godwin
by James Northcote
oil on canvas, 1802
29 1/2 in. x 24 1/2 in. (749 mm x 622 mm)
Bequeathed by Jane, Lady Shelley, 1899
Primary Collection
NPG 1236
Artistback to top
- James Northcote (1746-1831), Painter; pupil and biographer of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Artist or producer associated with 106 portraits, Sitter associated with 23 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Godwin liked Northcote's portrait, describing it as 'The principal memorandum of my corporal existence that will remain after my death.' With the light hitting the philosopher's temples, Northcote symbolised Godwin's belief in progress based on reason.
Related worksback to top
- NPG D20131: William Godwin (source portrait)
- NPG D8415: William Godwin (source portrait)
- NPG D8414: William Godwin (source portrait)
- NPG D8387: William Godwin (after)
Linked publicationsback to top
- Smartify image discovery app
- Edited by Lucy Peltz & Louise Stewart, Love Stories: Art, Passion & Tragedy, 2020, p. 66
- Holmes, Richard, The Romantic Poets and Their Circle, 2013, p. 45
- Holmes, Richard, Insights: The Romantic Poets and Their Circle, 2005, p. 34
- Holmes, Richard; Crane, David; Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantics and Revolutionaries: Regency portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, 2002, p. 49
- Ross, Josephine, Jane Austen and her World, 2017, p. 68
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 251
- Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 219
- Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantic Icons, 1999, p. 37
Events of 1802back to top
Current affairs
After returning from Naples, Nelson tours England with the diplomat and antiquarian Sir William Hamilton and his wife Emma, with whom he was having an affair. With Nelson's status confirmed as a national hero, their reception outrivals that of the King.Extensive strikes in government shipyards led by John Gast.
Art and science
Francis Jeffrey, MP and arbiter of literary taste, co-founds the Edinburgh Review, the influential Whig quarterly which voiced strong criticism of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey.The Exchange, where stocks were traded, is rebuilt to cope with an increase in business during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
International
Peace of Amiens; Britain finally agrees to unpopular peace, leaving France the chief power in Europe and returning recent British colonial acquisitions.Napoleon is declared First Consul of the French Empire for life.
English flock to see the international war plunder now on display at the Louvre in Paris.
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