Sir Charles Christopher Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham (1781-1851) Lord Chancellor

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Royal Courts of Justice, The Strand

Henry Perronet Briggs was born in Walworth, south-east London. His father held a senior position in the Post Office. He was 14 when two of his drawings were published in ‘The Gentleman’s Magazine’. He entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1811 and in 1813 moved to Cambridge, where he painted portraits of scholars. In the following year, he returned to London. Briggs exhibited 19 historical and Shakespearean subjects at the British Institution (1819-30) and was elected a Royal Academician in 1832; from then concentrating on portraiture. In 1838 he was in first place in the ‘Fraser’s Magazine’ list of ‘Best Victorian Painters’. However, Briggs and his wife, Elizabeth, became infected with tuberculosis; Elizabeth dying in 1839, Briggs in 1844.
Engraver Thomas Goff Lupton was born in Clerkenwell, London; the son of a goldsmith. He trained under engraver George Clint. Lupton produced the first soft steel plates, able to print considerably more copies than copper plates, for which he was awarded the ‘Isis medal’ of the Society of Arts in 1822. He was employed by J. M. W. Turner on ‘Liber Studiorum’ (1807-19) and in 1825 six of his plates after Turner were published as ‘Views of the Ports of England’; reissued with six more as ‘The Harbours of England’ (1856 ; text by Ruskin). Lupton engraved numerous portraits after artists including Lawrence and Reynolds, and also exhibited pastels at the Royal Academy. He was elected President of the Artists' Annuity Fund (1836). He died aged 81.

People

Charles Christopher, 1st Earl of Cottenham Pepys (1781 - 1851)

Places

Subjects

male portrait, ceremonial costume, wig, Chancellor's Purse, judge, lawyer, Earl, Solicitor General, Member of Parliament, Privy Counsellor, Lord Chancellor, mace, armchair, curtain, table (as Subject)

Materials & Techniques

mezzotint

Artist

Henry Perronet Briggs (1791/93 - 1844)
Thomas Goff Lupton (1791 - 1873)

Title

Sir Charles Christopher Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham (1781-1851) Lord Chancellor

Date

June 1850

Medium

Mezzotint

Acquisition

Purchased from Mrs Dorothy Lane, February 1958

GAC number

4484