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
- Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey
- 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
- Subjects
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Judy Egerton, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The British Paintings’, London 2000; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1946Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: British School, London 1946
-
1959Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: British School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1959
-
2000Egerton, Judy, National Gallery Catalogues: The British Paintings, revised edn, London 2000
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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.