Skip to main content

Portrait of Edward Gibbon: PD.5-2020

Object information

Awaiting location update

Titles

Portrait of Edward Gibbon

Maker(s)

Brandoin, Michel Vincent

Entities

Categories

Description

Portrait of Edward Gibbon (1737-1794); full length, holding walking stick, wearing queue wig and frock coat; seated in a garden in Lausanne with mountains behind. Gibbon was a British historian and Member of Parliament. His most well-known work was 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788.

Notes

History note: Gibbon's librarian, the Swiss theologian Jean-David-Paul-Étienne Lavade (d.1834); 'Mons. Greathed No. 9 Boulevard du roe 3 mai 1822' (graphite inscription on the verso of the drawing), possibly Edward Harris Greathed (1770-1840) of Udden House, near Wimborne, Dorset, residing latterly in Versailles and Switzerland

Legal notes

Bequeathed by John Vaughan Hart, 2020

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (2020) by Hart, John Vaughan

Dating

18th Century
Circa 1786 - Circa 1789

Note

Made during Gibbon's last stay in Lausanne

Materials used in production

Watercolour
Graphite

Components of the work

Support composed of paper
Sheet Height 180 mm Width 130 mm

Techniques used in production

Drawing : Graphite with watercolour on paper

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: Underlined

  • Text: Gibbon.
  • Location: Lower centre
  • Method of creation: Pen and ink
  • Type: Inscription

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: PD.5-2020
Primary reference Number: 241898
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Thursday 13 August 2020 Updated: Monday 27 September 2021 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Portrait of Edward Gibbon" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/241898 Accessed: 2024-12-19 00:56:48

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/241898 |title=Portrait of Edward Gibbon |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-19 00:56:48|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-241898

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...