The Rt Hon. Charles Townshend, PC (1725-1767)
Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792) and Studio
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1766 - 1767
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
787 x 648 mm (31 x 25 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire
NT 343159
Caption
Horace Walpole said of this Chancellor of the Exchequer: ‘His fame illustrates the willingness of his colleagues to let bombast and wit atone for instability of character’. It seems probable that this portrait came to Baddesley Clinton on Edward Ferrers’s marriage to Lady Harriet Townshend in 1813.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Rt Hon. Charles Townshend, PC (1725-1767), Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792) and Studio. A painted oval, half-length portrait of the sitter set against a plain brown background, turned towards the left and looking out at the spectator. He wears a short brown wig and a generously cut red velvet robe or cloak, a white lace cravat at the neck. Townshend was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Earl of Chatham's government from 2 August 1766 - 4 September 1767.
Full description
Between 1765 and 1767 two portraits of The Rt Hon Charles Townshend were commissioned from the studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds. A payment of 25 guineas is recorded between 24 February 1767 and 27 July 1768. The portrait now at Baddesley Clinton was completed in the same sittings as the whole-length in Chancellor’s robes (now privately owned). It was probably this portrait, previously thought to be lost, that was engraved by John Dixon in 1770 (i). (i) David Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds, New Haven & London, 2000, cat .no.1759
Makers and roles
Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792) and Studio, artist studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792), artist