The Hon. Sir John Cust, 3rd Bt of Pinchbeck and 6th Bt of Humby (1718-1770) in Speaker's Robes
Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1767 - 1768
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
3390 x 2520 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 436062
Caption
John Cust is here shown in his robes as Speaker of the House of Commons (1761-70). Reynolds painted this portrait in 1767-8 just before his re-election to this office. Cust holds the first Bill he presented to George III for signature, to provide a settlement for Queen Charlotte in the case of the king's death. He died five days after resigning from the post from exhaustion. He was the son of Sir Richard Cust (1680-1734), 2nd Bt. of Pinchbeck and Anne Brownlow (1694-1779). He married Etheldred Payne (1720-75), whose portrait is also at Belton. His son, Sir Brownlow Cust (1744-1807), 7th Bt. of Humby, was created Baron Brownlow in 1776.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Hon. Sir John Cust, 3rd Bt of Pinchbeck and 6th Bt of Humby MP (1718-1770) in Speakers Robes by Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792), 1767-8. A full-length portrait of the Honorable Sir John Cust, standing, facing, head turned to the left, gazing to the left, dressed in grey full-bottomed wig and in the robes of the Speaker of the House of Commons (1761-70). He stands in an interior, with an arched window at right and distant landscape with cloudy sky beyond. A copy of the Speaker's speech (dated Wednesday Decr 2 1761) lies on the table beside him, the document referring to the Bill held in his proper right hand. This was the first Bill that Cust presented to George III for signature, to provide a settlement for Queen Charlotte in the case of the king's death. Cust sat to Reynolds in July 1767; a first payment of 75 guineas is recorded in Reynolds' Ledger on 11 June 1767 (Cormack 1970, 114), and a second payment of the same sum on 25 May 1768 (ibid, 116). The Rt Hon. Sir John Cust, 3rd Bt of Pinchbeck and 6th Bt of Humby (1718-70) was born on 29 August 1718. He was baptised on 25 September 1718 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London. Son of Sir Richard Cust (1680-1734), 2nd Bt. of Pinchbeck and Anne Brownlow (1694-1779). He was educated at Eton College, and succeeded to the title of 3rd Baronet Cust, of Stamford on 25 July 1734. He graduated from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1739 with an M.A. He was admitted to the Middle Temple on 26 November 1742. Married Etheldred Payne (1720-75) daughter of Thomas Payne and Elizabeth Folkes, on 8 December 1743. He was MP for Grantham 1743-1770. He held the office of Clerk of the Household to Frederick, Prince of Wales 1747-1751, and was Steward of the Household to the Dowager Princess of Wales, 1751, and Clerk of the Household to George Prince of Wales 1751 and 1760. He held the office of Speaker of the House of Commons between 3 November 1761 and 19 January 1770. Father of Sir Brownlow Cust (1744-1807), 7th Bt. of Humby, who was created Baron Brownlow in 1776. The peerage conferred on his son was his posthumous recompense as Speaker. He died on 24 January 1770 at age 51.
Credit line
Belton House, The Brownlow Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund by the National Trust in 1984)
Makers and roles
Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792), artist
References
Cormack 1968-70: Malcom Cormack, The Ledgers of Sir Joshua Reynolds, The Volume of the Walpole Society, vol. 42 (1968-70), pp. 105-69 Mannings 2000: David Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings. The Subject Pictures catalogued by Martin Postle, New Haven & London 2000, no. 467