| Portrait of Lord Rawdon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Thomas Gainsborough |
| Year | 1784 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, portrait painting |
| Dimensions | 230 cm× 150 cm(91 in× 59 in) |
| Location | São Paulo Museum of Art, São Paulo |
Portrait of Lord Rawdon is a 1784 portrait painting of the Anglo-Irish soldier and politician Lord Rawdon. He is shown at full-length in his British Army uniform against an Arcadian background [1]
The has notably served under the Lord Cornwallis during the Southern Campaign of the American War of Independence. Later made Earl of Moira, he was a leading Whig and a close ally and friend of the future George IV, who unsuccessfully tried to have him become Prime Minister during the Regency era. [2]
Gainsborough was one of Britain's most fashionable portraits who had relocated from Bath to the capital a decade earlier. This was a dual commission as Cornwallis and Rawdon both commissioned him to produce a portrait so they could exchange the pictures. [3] [4]
The painting was one of eighteen paintings Gainsborough submitted to the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1784 at Somerset House. After a dispute with his fellow members of the Royal Academy over the hanging arrangements, he withdrew all the paintings at the last moment. [5] He instead exhibited them at his own residence at Schomberg House in Pall Mall. This marked his final break with the academy and he didn't display his work there again. Today it is in the collection of the São Paulo Museum of Art. [6]
Shortly after Gainsborough's death his long-standing rival Joshua Reynolds produced his own depiction of the sitter Portrait of Lord Moira , one of the final works he produced. [7]
