''Portrait of Sir William Chambers'' is a 1780

portrait painting Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commissio ...

by the British

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...

depicting the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

William Chambers. Reynolds was the first president of the Royal Academy. The

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

had recently moved into new headquarters at

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

on the Strand in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Chambers, also a prominent member of the Academy, had designed the new building. Reynolds portrays him with a porte crayon in his hand, against the backdrop of Somerset House. It is likely the painting was produced as a

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ...

to hang alongside the ''

Self-Portrait Self-portraits are Portrait painting, portraits artists make of themselves. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, the practice of self-portraiture only gaining momentum in the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century ...

'' by Reynolds in the Assembly Room at Somerset House. The engraver Valentine Green produced a

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzo ...

based on the painting, a copy of which is now in the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

.https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw138980/Sir-William-Chambers

References

Bibliography

* Harris, John. ''Sir William Chambers: Architect to George III''. Yale University Press, 1996. * McIntyre, Ian. ''Joshua Reynolds: The Life and Times of the First President of the Royal Academy''. Allen Lane, 2003. * Postle, Edward (ed.) ''Joshua Reynolds: The Creation of Celebrity''. Harry N. Abrams, 2005. * Wendorf, Richard. ''Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Painter in Society''. Harvard University Press, 1998. 1780 paintings Portraits by Joshua Reynolds Royal Academy Paintings in the Royal Academy 18th-century portraits London in art {{1780s-painting-stub