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Sir Robert Walpole

1741
Not on view
Walpole served his Whig allies in Parliament, and the monarchs George I and II, with great skill helping to secure the Hanoverian succession. He is now considered Britain's first defacto Prime Minister (the term did not come into use until the nineteenth century). Walpole is here portrayed as First Commissioner, or Lord, of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, offices that gave him significant control over government spending. Walpole wears a brocaded coat, long wig and sash hung with the Garter emblem. His right hand supports the Lord Chancellor's burse which is decorated with his coat-of-arms. Beyond a column and balustrade at right, a Roman statue indicates the sitter's political beliefs and oratory skills. Vanloo's painting hung in the Blue Damask Bedroom at Houghton until 1779 when sold by the sitter's grandson, George Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford (1730–1791) to Empress Catherine the Great.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Sir Robert Walpole
  • Artist: After Jean-Baptiste Vanloo (French, Aix-en-Provence 1684–1745 Aix-en-Provence)
  • Artist: John Faber, the Younger (British, ca. 1695–1756)
  • Sitter: Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (British, Houghton, Norfolk 1676–1745 London)
  • Date: 1741
  • Medium: Mezzotint and engraving
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 18 11/16 x 14 in. (47.5 x 35.5 cm)
    Leaf: 28 15/16 × 20 1/2 in. (73.5 × 52 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1925
  • Object Number: 25.62.3v
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Aedes Walpolianae, or a Description of the Collection of Pictures at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, the Seat of the Right Honorable Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford (Interleaved with Drawings by Isaac Ware for: The Plans, Elevations, and Sections of Chimney Pieces, and Celings of Houghton Hall in Norfolk...1735) ["The Walpole Album"], Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford British, Etching, engraving, pen and ink, brush and wash, watercolor
Aedes Walpolianae, or a Description of the Collection of Pictures at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, the Seat of the Right Honorable Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford (Interleaved with Drawings by Isaac Ware for: The Plans, Elevations, and Sections of Chimney Pieces, and Celings of Houghton Hall in Norfolk...1735) ["The Walpole Album"]
Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford
1550–early 20th century
The Right Honorable Horatio Walpole, Esq.
Multiple artists/makers
1741
Scrapbook of Drawings and Prints, Gideon Saint British, Pen and ink, engraving and etching
Scrapbook of Drawings and Prints
Gideon Saint
ca. 1760
Imaginary View of Venice, houses at left with figures on terraces, a domed church at center in the background, boats and boat-sheds below, and a seated man observing from a wall at right in the foreground, from "Views" (Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal), Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Italian, Etching; undivided plate, only state
Imaginary View of Venice, houses at left with figures on terraces, a domed church at center in the background, boats and boat-sheds below, and a seated man observing from a wall at right in the foreground, from "Views" (Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal)
Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal)
Joseph Smith
1741
Gin Lane, William Hogarth British, Engraved copper plate
Gin Lane
William Hogarth
1751

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