PortraitThomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1732–1800), oil painting by the American painter Gilbert Stuart.
The sitter is portrayed life-sizeed at half-length, seated in an armchair upholstered in red and studded with small brass-headed nails, his body is nearly full-front with the head and dark brown eyes turned three-quarters left. He wears a dark green coat with a collar of black velvet, his coat being buttoned across his chest, but opened below, showing a brownish-gray waistcoat. His stock and shirt ruffles are of white muslin and his wig or hair is powdered. His face is plump and his complexion "beefy," expressing mental and physical activity with a look of hauteur. He sits beside a table covered with a varicolored cloth in which is an inkstand, two quill pens, a tray with a piece of red sealing-wax, and a packet of letters, with one unfolded. On the latter the word "London" can be deciphered. His left arm rests upon the chair arm and the left hand, partially closed, is shown, but the right hand is concealed by the table. The background is plain and of warm brownish tones.
Digital image courtesy of the Dixson Galleries, State Library of New South Wales
Inscriptions
Unsigned and undated
Notes
The portrait remained with the Townshend family until the third viscount died without issue in 1890 and the title became extinct. It passed with the estates to his cousin, the Hon. Robert Marsham (1834–1915), who assumed the additional surname and arms of Townshend.
A London dealer bought the portrait at auction soon after Marsham-Townshend's death, and sold it to Herbert Lee Pratt, of the Standard Oil Co., New York. Pratt kept the portrait only a year, selling it through a dealer in 1916 to Walter Jennings, of New York.
The portrait was on loan to the Hecker Memorial Art Gallery, Long Island, New York. Walter Jennings died in 1932 and his wife in 1949. Their son, Oliver B. Jennings, sold it to the Public Library of New South Wales, now the State Library, in 1952, for 4 000 dollars – a price below its valuation. The painting was first displayed in the library in 1954.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.
Public domain works must be out of copyright in both the United States and in the source country of the work in order to be hosted on the Commons. If the work is not a U.S. work, the file must have an additional copyright tag indicating the copyright status in the source country. Note: This tag should not be used for sound recordings.PD-1923Public domain in the United States//commons.wikimedia.org/key/File:Viscount_Sydney_by_Gilbert_Stuart.jpg