FDA-P.178-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-P.178-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
John Bird Sumner
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
Comments
This work represents John Bird Sumner at the pinnacle of his career in the Church, as Archbishop of Canterbury (1848–62). But Sumner had also been a master at Eton. He first arrived as a King’s Scholar and, after studying at King’s College, Cambridge, returned as an Assistant Master from 1802, remaining for 15 years.
Versions of an earlier portrait of Sumner by Carpenter, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1839, are at Bishop’s House, Chester; University College, Durham and Lambeth Palace. This later example is probably the work Carpenter exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1852. A print after the work, by John Richardson Jackson, was published the following year.
Versions of an earlier portrait of Sumner by Carpenter, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1839, are at Bishop’s House, Chester; University College, Durham and Lambeth Palace. This later example is probably the work Carpenter exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1852. A print after the work, by John Richardson Jackson, was published the following year.
Description
Content (person)
Content (note)
Three-quarter length seated (right) in Episcopal robes
Dimensions
height (sight size): 1405mm
width (sight size): 1110mm
height (frame): 1690mm
width (frame): 1385mm
width (sight size): 1110mm
height (frame): 1690mm
width (frame): 1385mm
Materials & techniques note
Oil on canvas
Physical description
Carved and engraved gilt frame, surmounted by bishop's mitre
Production
Person
Date
c.1852
History and association
Object history note
Exhibited: 'New Faces: Unexhibited Portraits from Eton's Boarding Houses', Verey Gallery, Eton College, 27 April to 23 September 2019
References
• Cust, L., Eton College Portraits, 1910 (p.74)
