Thomas Gainsborough
English, 1727–1788
Viscount Hampden
c. 1780
Robert Hampton-Trevor was made Viscount Hampden in 1776, and this portrait may have been commissioned to celebrate his new title. Before his rise to the aristocracy, he served the British Government as a diplomat in The Hague and as joint-postmaster general. Gainsborough’s portrait presents the Viscount as a serious, reflective man, well-dressed and wearing a meticulously styled wig.
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 28 1/4 x 22 11/16 in. (71.8 x 57.7 cm) |
| Object Number | 1955.35 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
| Status | Off View |
Image Caption
Thomas Gainsborough, Viscount Hampden, c. 1780, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.35
Select Bibliography
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Four: First Two Rooms. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.
Wildenstein & Company. An Exhibition of Treasures from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts: Paintings, drawings & rare silver, for the benefit of the Committee to Rescue Italian Art, inc. (CRIA). Exhibition catalogue. New York: Wildenstein & Company, 1967.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972.
Precht, Katherine. The Paintings of the English School at the Clark Art Institute. Honors thesis, Williams College, 1981.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984.
Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.
Melikian, Souren. "A Unique and Unforgettable Collection." International Herald Tribune, 16–17 September 2000.
