Baron Gustaf Adam von Nolcken (1733-1813) Swedish Ambassador to Great Britain

Location

Country: Sweden
City: Stockholm
Place: British Embassy

A loyal friend of King Gustaf III, Baron Gustaf von Nolcken was appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of St James in 1763. He declined promotion in 1793 to stay in London and continued to live there without a position until his death.

John Downman was born near Ruabon, Wales. He was a pupil of Benjamin West from 1768 and entered the Royal Academy Schools the following year, exhibiting at the Academy from 1770. He travelled to Italy and was in Rome from 1773 to 1774. From 1777 to 1778 he was at Cambridge, where he began a series of portrait drawings and painted small portrait heads in oils. In c.1776 he began his annotated 'albums' of portrait drawings, from which he could execute repetitions. From 1779 to 1804 he was settled in London, but later travelled considerably. In 1806, he married in Exeter, but left after his wife died in 1808. He was again mainly in London before settling in Chester in 1817. However, he died in Wrexham, having returned to Wales.

People

Baron Gustaf Adam von Nolcken (1733 - 1813)

Places

Subjects

male portrait, Swedish, man, 18th century costume, wig, cravat, ribbon (as Subject - costume accessory), badge, Baron, ambassadors & diplomats

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

John Downman (1750 - 1824)

Title

Baron Gustaf Adam von Nolcken (1733-1813) Swedish Ambassador to Great Britain

Date

1780

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 61.00 cm, width: 51.00 cm

Acquisition

Presented by Harald Stjarnsward, September 1948

Inscription

cr: J Downman / Pinxt / 1780 ; verso (in later hand): GUSTAF ADAM v. NOLCKEN / f 1733 f 1813

Provenance

Presented by Harald Stjarnsward, September 1948

GAC number

648