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Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey, 'Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough', 1834

About the work

Overview

Dated 1836, this is a replica of the marble bust of Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough (1760–1838), commissioned in 1819 by the sitter’s father-in-law, Sir Abraham Hume. The original was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1820 and is now in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Who commissioned Chantrey to produce this replica and why remains a mystery, but it was paid for in 1842 by one of Lord Farnborough’s nephews, by which point both Chantrey and Farnborough had died.

Charles Long was a Tory politician and a promoter and patron of the arts, active on the ‘Committee of Taste’ and a founding governor of the British Institution and a Trustee of both the British Museum and the National Gallery. He was made Paymaster General and created baron on his retirement in 1826. A notable connoisseur and collector himself, he was also art adviser to George IV and known as ‘the spectacles of the King’.

Key facts

Details

Full title
Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough
Artist dates
1781 - 1841
Date made
1834
Medium and support
marble, carved
Dimensions
74 × 47 × 24 cm
Inscription summary
Signed; Dated and inscribed
Acquisition credit
Presented by Mrs Samuel Long, 1911
Inventory number
NG2786
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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