FDA-P.14-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-P.14-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
Henry Hallam
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
Description
Half-length portrait of a young man, in a grey coat with a velvet collar, and a yellow striped waistcoat
Comments
Born at Windsor, the son of John Hallam, Canon of Windsor, who had been a scholar of Eton and had married the sister of W.H. Roberts, Provost of Eton.
Hallam's quite considerable means (he was a Commissioner of Stamps, a well-paid sinecure) enabled him to give up the legal professions and devote himself to literature and history. In 1818 John Murray published his first work, 'A view of the state of Europe', a book which went through many editions. His 'Constitutional history of England from the accession of Henry VII to the death of George II', of 1827, was reviewed famously and at length by Macaulay in the Edinburgh Review. It proved enormously popular and became a classic work, being translated into French (edited by the politician Guizot) and German. In these and other works he helped to lay the foundations of English historiography.
At Eton 1789-95
Afterwards an historian
Hallam's quite considerable means (he was a Commissioner of Stamps, a well-paid sinecure) enabled him to give up the legal professions and devote himself to literature and history. In 1818 John Murray published his first work, 'A view of the state of Europe', a book which went through many editions. His 'Constitutional history of England from the accession of Henry VII to the death of George II', of 1827, was reviewed famously and at length by Macaulay in the Edinburgh Review. It proved enormously popular and became a classic work, being translated into French (edited by the politician Guizot) and German. In these and other works he helped to lay the foundations of English historiography.
At Eton 1789-95
Afterwards an historian
Description
Content (person)
Hallam, Henry, 1777 - 1859 (Sitter)
Dimensions
height (sight size): 750mm
width (sight size): 670mm
height (frame): 950mm
width (frame): 810mm
depth (frame): 80mm
width (sight size): 670mm
height (frame): 950mm
width (frame): 810mm
depth (frame): 80mm
Inscription
I.D. label on frame
Materials & techniques note
Oil on canvas
Physical description
Carved gilt frame
Production
Person
Date
c.1795
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Commissioned by the sitter or his family; by whom presented to the Head Master at Eton College in c.1795
Exhibited: 'Eton Leaving Portraits', Tate Gallery, London, April to May 1951, catalogue number 18; 'Leaving Portraits from Eton College', Dulwich Picture Gallery, 18 July to 20 October 1991, catalogue number 20
Exhibited: 'Eton Leaving Portraits', Tate Gallery, London, April to May 1951, catalogue number 18; 'Leaving Portraits from Eton College', Dulwich Picture Gallery, 18 July to 20 October 1991, catalogue number 20
References
• Cust, L., Eton College Portraits, 1910 (p. 26, no.51, Plate XXIV)
• McConnell, ed., Treasures of Eton, London, 1976 (p.93)
• Roberts, W., Sir William Beechey, R.A., Duckworth & Co., 1907
• Redgrave, R., and S. Redgrave, A Century of British Painters, new edition Cornell University Press, 1947
• McConnell, ed., Treasures of Eton, London, 1976 (p.93)
• Roberts, W., Sir William Beechey, R.A., Duckworth & Co., 1907
• Redgrave, R., and S. Redgrave, A Century of British Painters, new edition Cornell University Press, 1947
