William Pitt (1759-1806) Prime Minister

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Gainsborough Dupont was born in Suffolk, the son of a carpenter. He was the nephew of Thomas Gainsborough and was apprenticed to his uncle in Bath. In 1775 Gainsborough and Dupont relocated to London, where Dupont enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools. He made mezzotints and small-scale copies after his uncle’s paintings. After Gainsborough’s death in 1788, Dupont continued to work from his uncle’s studio. The similarity of his work to that of Gainsborough has caused problems of attribution. Dupont worked in the manner of his uncle into the 1790s, but also made original portraits in a more personal style and, from 1790, exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1793 he moved his studio to Grafton Street. He died at about the age of 42.
Francesco Bartolozzi was born in Italy. He became a pupil of the German painter and printmaker Joseph Wagner, then based in Venice. In 1764, he was invited to England by Frederick Augusta Barnard, King George III's Librarian. Although best known for copying Old Master drawings in the stipple technique (such as his reproductions of Guercino’s drawings in the Royal Collection), Bartolozzi also engraved plates after contemporary artists (notably Giovanni Battista Cipriani and Angelica Kauffmann). He set up a studio in London, which produced large numbers of ‘furniture prints’ (generally set within a roundel or oval and intended for framing). In 1802 he left England to become Director of the Lisbon Academy in Portugal.

People

William Pitt (1759 - 1806)

Places

Subjects

quill, ink pot/ink stand, pen, male portrait, man, 18th century costume, coat, wig, cravat, wing collar, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Prime Minister, curtain, chair, table (as Subject)

Materials & Techniques

engraving

Artist

Gainsborough Dupont (c.1754 - 1797)
Francesco Bartolozzi (1727 - 1815)

Title

William Pitt (1759-1806) Prime Minister

Date

1 January 1792

Medium

Engraving

Dimensions

height: 51.00 cm, width: 36.00 cm

Acquisition

Transferred from HM Revenue and Customs, December 2012

Provenance

Inland Revenue, Somerset House; transferred to GAC, 2012

GAC number

15727