The Rt. Hon. William Windham III MP (1750-1810) (after Sir Joshua Reynolds)
John Jones (London c.1745 – 1797)
Category
Art / Prints
Date
1 Dec 1792
Materials
Glass, Paper, Wood
Measurements
570 x 430 mm
Place of origin
Portland Street
Order this imageCollection
Nunnington Hall, North Yorkshire
NT 979830
Summary
Print, mezzotint, The Rt. Hon. William Windham III MP (1750-1810) (after Sir Joshua Reynolds) by John Jones (London c.1745 – 1797). Engraved and published by John Jones, 1792. Son of William Windham II and Sarah Hicks; married Cecilia Forrest. A Whig politician who rose to being Secretary of War under Pitt (1794-1801) and again in Grenville's ministry (1806-7), when he was associated with the reform of conditions in the Navy. According to the article in the Dictionary of National Biography, he was pious, chivalrous, and disinterested, and his brilliant social qualities made him one of the first gentlemen as well as one of the soundest sportsmen of his time'. The article refers to his diary, published in 1866, as showing him to have been vacillating and hypochrondriacal in private, but excuses his political inconsistency, which led him to his being nicknamed 'Weathercock Windham'. He was a good orator, and became the leader of his party in the Commons, so was much offended to be offered a peerage after Fox's death: "They want ordanance, and yet would begin by spiking one of their greatest guns!" (Earl of Ilchester, The Home of the Hollands, 1937, pp.241-42).
Provenance
Bequest of Cooper Abbs from Mount Grace
Marks and inscriptions
Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds/Engraved by J Jones engraver extraordinary to his R H Prince of Wales/and principal engraver to his H R The Duke of York/The Rt Hon'ble William Windham/pub'd as the Act directs Dec'r 1st 1792, by I.Jones.Portland Street.Portland Place.
Makers and roles
John Jones (London c.1745 – 1797), engraver and publisher after Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (Plympton 1723 - London 1792), artist