Captain William Hamilton
Artist: Sir Joshua Reynolds (English | British, 1723-1792)
Date: 1762-1772 and 1785
Dimensions:
30 1/4 x 25 1/8 in. (76.8 x 63.8 cm)
Medium: oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1926.58
Label Text:Captain William Hamilton (1730–1803), later Sir William, was a soldier, a Member of Parliament, and in 1764 was appointed English ambassador to the court of Naples, where he remained until 1800. His presence helped to establish the city as a main destination on the Grand Tour—the tour of cultural and historic sites across Continental Europe undertaken as an essential part of the education of every young English gentleman. Hamilton escorted many important guests to the new Pompeii excavations or to Mount Vesuvius, including Russian czar Paul I, Mozart, and Goethe. Hamilton was among the great early English collectors of classical antiquities. He was also an early expert on volcanoes. Here Sir Joshua Reynolds, the most prominent British painter of his day, alludes to Hamilton’s intellectual interests by depicting him as if he is pausing to reflect on a passage he has just read from the book open before him.
Despite publishing monumental volumes on his antiquities collection and his volcanic studies, Hamilton’s achievements sometimes have been overshadowed by his second wife Emma Lyon’s affair with British naval hero Lord Horatio Nelson.
Despite publishing monumental volumes on his antiquities collection and his volcanic studies, Hamilton’s achievements sometimes have been overshadowed by his second wife Emma Lyon’s affair with British naval hero Lord Horatio Nelson.
Not on view
In Collection(s)