A Portrait of Charles Lee Lewes
London, exhibited 1775
Oil on canvas
71 x 61 cm
Charles Lewes (1740-1803) was an actor and singer who specialised in comic roles.
He holds the music of a popular drinking song, The Wine Vault, made more suggestive here by the way some words are obscured. The informal pose, with Lewes leaning over the back of a chair as if engaging us in conversation, is in keeping with the music.
Nathaniel Hone was a Dublin-born portrait and miniature painter best known for his satirical portrait of Joshua Reynolds, president of the Royal Academy.
Purchased 1959 (No.59.6)