Scottish politician, diplomat and art collector.
Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton
1767 - 1852
This person is the subject of ongoing research. We have started by researching their relationship to the enslavement of people.
Biographical notes
Slavery connections
He married in 1810 Susan Beckford, daughter of William Thomas Beckford (q.v.), from whom she inherited an immense fortune based on Jamaican sugar estates. (UCL Department of History (ed.), Legacies of British Slave-Ownership: Scotland and Slavery [1] [online], n.d., <https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs//media-new/pdfs/lbsscotland1.pdf> accessed 4 August 2021.)
Dr Stephen Mullen and Prof. Simon Newman state that ‘Whilst it is unlikely (but not impossible) the Hamiltons profited economically from New World slavery, it is almost certain they were owners of an enslaved page boy resident in their landed home … The family’s overall economic profiteering from slavery cannot be revealed without deep investigation of the archive holdings held in the National Records of Scotland’. (Stephen Mullen and Simon Newman, Slavery Abolition and the University of Glasgow: report and recommendations of the University of Glasgow History of Slavery Steering Committee [online], September 2018, <https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_607547_smxx.pdf> accessed 4 August 2021, 75.)
Abolition connections
No known connections with abolition.
National Gallery painting connections
Former owner: NG bought from the Hamilton sale, 1882: NG1120-1129.
Bibliography
anon., 'Hamilton [Douglas-Hamilton], Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton [7th Duke of Brandon]', in J. Turner et al. (eds), Grove Art Online, Oxford 1998-, https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T036380
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Item on publisher's website
M. H. Port and D. R. Fisher, 'HAMILTON, Alexander, Mq. of Douglas and Clydesdale (1767-1852)', in History of Parliament Trust (ed.), The History of Parliament: British Political, Social & Local History, London 1964-, 1790-1820, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/hamilton-alexander-1767-1852
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L. C. Sanders and K. D. Reynolds, 'Hamilton, Alexander Douglas-, tenth duke of Hamilton and seventh duke of Brandon', in C. Matthew et al. (eds), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford 1992-, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/7857
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Item on publisher's website
UCL Department of History (ed.), Legacies of British Slave-ownership, London 2020, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/
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Item on publisher's website
Paintings previously owned by Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton
(Showing 6 of 11 works)
This woman is most likely Sophonisba, an ill-fated but brave Carthaginian princess; she drains a glass of poison. In 206 BC Massinia allied with the Roman general Scipio to defeat the western Numidians, ruled by Sophonisba’s first husband, Syphax. Massinia fell in love with Sophonisba, but could...
Follower of Titian
Reminiscent of Titian’s style, this painting is typical of the kind of mythological scene made for learned, private patrons in Venice that he helped pioneer. Cupid, god of love, raises his arrow to pierce a woman embracing a youth who holds a golden apple.The central couple may be Hippomenes and...
Not on display
Philip IV, King of Spain, was normally shown in fairly sombre clothing, so the unusual splendour of his costume here suggests that this work was made to celebrate something particular. In 1632, he wore a similar outfit for an important ceremony in which the Cortes of Castile pledged an oath of al...
Not on display
An unidentified young man dressed plainly in black stares back at us from the canvas. He stands upright and motionless while behind him clouds race across the sky. The composition has been carefully centred so that a vertical line could be drawn straight down the bridge of his nose and through th...
Possibly by El Greco
Once mistaken for a portrait of a cardinal, this painting in fact shows Saint Jerome dressed in cardinal’s robes. He was often painted this way as recognition of his high status in the Catholic Church, even though the office did not exist during his lifetime. His major achievement was to translat...
An old man with a long white beard kneels in a rocky landscape. He gazes up at a rough wooden cross made from two slender branches roped together. This is Jerome, a fourth-century saint. It’s one of a number of versions of the subject made by Cima da Conegliano.The painting is arranged to focus o...
Not on display
A ruinous chapel-like building stands in a rocky landscape. The Virgin Mary sits on the remains of a wall and presents the Christ Child to the Three Kings, who, together with their retinue, are gathered around her to present their gifts. The Gospel of Matthew tells the story of the Adoration of t...
Heaven and earth are united in this vast, dramatic scene. A dome-shaped vault has opened up in the sky to reveal Christ blessing the Virgin Mary. She kneels before him, her hands together in prayer. They are surrounded by ranks of neatly ordered angelic beings, saints and Old Testament figures: t...
Not on display
Following Jewish tradition, Christ was circumcised when he was eight days old (Luke 2: 21). Seated on his mother’s lap, Christ reaches out to the mohel, the man who will perform the surgery, who holds a fine blade. The vibrantly coloured marble floor tiles are designed to attract the viewer’s att...
Jesus sits at the head of the table, surrounded by his disciples, holding up a piece of bread, which he blesses: this is the Last Supper. Ercole’s skill at painting detail on a small scale is clear: each disciple has a different facial expression, and the transparent glasses, the carafes and the...
Not on display
Taking careful steps, a woman comes towards us, holding what at first glance looks like a deep circular tray. She is the Vestal Virgin Tuccia and the object she carries is, in fact, a sieve.Vestal Virgins maintained the fire in the temple of the chaste goddess Vesta in Rome. Their virginity was c...
You've viewed 6 of 11 paintings