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C1790
Lord Viscount Sydney &c. &c. &c.
Rare, large c.18th portrait of Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1733-1800) whom the city of Sydney was named after by the famous American portrait artist Gilbert Charles Stuart (1755-1828). As Home Secretary in the Pitt Government Sydney, was given responsibility … Read Full Description
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Details
Full Title:
Lord Viscount Sydney &c. &c. &c.
Date:
C1790
Engraver:
John Young
(1755 –
1825)
Condition:
In good condition, with wide margins, a good strong impression.
Technique:
Mezzotint
Image Size:
290mm
x 420mm
Paper Size:
433mm
x 580mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1790
Description:
Rare, large c.18th portrait of Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1733-1800) whom the city of Sydney was named after by the famous American portrait artist Gilbert Charles Stuart (1755-1828).
As Home Secretary in the Pitt Government Sydney, was given responsibility for devising a plan to settle convicts at Botany Bay. Lord Sydney had favoured finding an alternative place of transportation, rather than the penitentiaries advocated by the prominent social reformer, Jeremy Bentham. In 1784, Sydney sponsored the Transportation Act which transferred responsibility for choosing such an alternative place, from Parliament to the Ministry. Lord Sydney had thought ‘it was observed that New South Wales would be a very proper region for the reception of criminals condemned to transportation’. In July 1786, the British cabinet came to accept Sydney’s recommendation that convicts be transported to Botany Bay. It was his choice of Arthur Phillip as the first Governor that ensured that the penal colony survived the early years of hardship. On 26 January 1788, Phillip named Sydney Cove in honour of Sydney and the settlement became known as Sydney Town. In 1789 Townshend was created Viscount Sydney.
References:
Kivel, Rex Nan, Portraits Of The Famous And Infamous. Australia New Zealand and The Pacific 1492-1970. Sydney 1974 :: NK 10654.
:.
Collections:
National Library Australia: NK10654
State Library New South Wales: Reference code 862721
National Portrait Gallery Canberra: 2012.176
British Museum London: 1902,1011.6834
Art Gallery New South Wales: DB9.1968
Kivel, Rex Nan, Portraits Of The Famous And Infamous. Australia New Zealand and The Pacific 1492-1970. Sydney 1974 :: NK 10654.
:.
Collections:
National Library Australia: NK10654
State Library New South Wales: Reference code 862721
National Portrait Gallery Canberra: 2012.176
British Museum London: 1902,1011.6834
Art Gallery New South Wales: DB9.1968
Gilbert Charles Stuart (1755 - 1828)
Stuart was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washington, begun in 1796, which is sometimes referred to as the Athenaeum Portrait. In Newport, he first began to show great promise as a painter and in 1770 made the acquaintance of Scottish artist Cosmo Alexander, a visitor to the colonies who made portraits of local patrons and who became his tutor. In 1771, Stuart moved to Scotland with Alexander to finish his studies; however, Alexander died in Edinburgh one year later he tried to maintain a living and pursue his painting career, but to no avail, so he returned to Newport in 1773. He again departed for England in 1773 and became a protégé of Benjamin West in 1777 and studied with him for the next six years. By 1782, Stuart had met with success, largely due to acclaim for The Skater, a portrait of William Grant.
