Portrait of George Edwards
Date
ca.1760
Sitter
George Edwards (1694 - 1773, British) , Ornithologist
Creator
[?] Benjamin Wilson (1721 - 1788, British) , Portraitist
Object type
Image reference
Dimensions
height (painting): 595mm
width (painting): 459mm
height (frame): 790mm
width (frame): 660mm
depth (frame): 55mm
width (painting): 459mm
height (frame): 790mm
width (frame): 660mm
depth (frame): 55mm
Subject
Description
Full length seated portrait of George Edwards, his body angled to the right as viewed. Edwards sits in a green-painted study, with a bookcase to the left of the painting, together with a Georgian round table with tripod legs. The sitter’s chair is on a rich, red Turkish carpet. Edwards is dressed in a white shirt and neck-cloth beneath a black waistcoat and half-breeches, with black stockings and shoes. There are paste buckles at the knees and shoes. Edwards wears a light grey coat and short wig. He sits with legs crossed, his right arm crooked with the elbow resting on the table. Upon this is an open book, displaying ‘The painted pheasant from China’, one of his own coloured illustrations. In his left hand is a balled silk handkerchief.
George Edwards (1694-1783), British ornithologist and artist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 1757. He was awarded the Society's Copley Medal in 1750 'on account of a very curious Book lately published by him, and intiyled, A Natural History of Birds, &c. - containing the Figures elegantly drawn, and illuminated in their proper colours, of 209 different Birds, and about 20 very rare Quadrupeds, Serpents'.
George Edwards (1694-1783), British ornithologist and artist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 1757. He was awarded the Society's Copley Medal in 1750 'on account of a very curious Book lately published by him, and intiyled, A Natural History of Birds, &c. - containing the Figures elegantly drawn, and illuminated in their proper colours, of 209 different Birds, and about 20 very rare Quadrupeds, Serpents'.
Object history
Donation: The gift of Molly Lowell and David Borthwick, 2018.
Associated place