A New Portrait of Anson

Abstract

There is no really satisfactory portrait of Lord Anson available for study by the general public. The Admiral and great Circumnavigator sat to Sir Joshua Reynolds near the end of his life. The Reynolds canvas hangs at Shugborough Park. There are 2 other versions, one in the Painted Hall at Greenwich and another in the National Portrait Gallery. An earlier portrait in pastel by an unknown artist hangs at Shugborough Park. It shows the sitter unencumbered with the oppressive panoply of the first-full-dress-uniform-for-admirals. A hitherto unknown pastel portrait possibly by the same hand came onto the market in 1918, the property of Sir Charles Wolseley. It shows Anson in his thirties before his circumnavigation. 1918 was difficult time for the work to come to market and while it was temporarily housed in the National Portrait Gallery the author proclaimed its merits, with his friend Mr Hodges, to Dartmouth College and the purchase money was raised by Rear Admiral Ruck Keene and Commander Noble so that the work now rests in the Cadet’s Mess Room at Dartmouth.

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Filed under: Other (Eighteenth C) | Other (location)
Subjects include: Art & Music | Biography