John Linnell 1792-1882

London, Royal Academy, 1842, no. 111

A.T. Story, The Life of John Linnell, 1892, p. 252;
D. Linnell, Blake, Palmer, Linnell and Co., The Life of John Linnell, 1994, pp. 224 - 226

ENGRAVED:
by John Linnell, 1843

STRUCTURE The canvas has been lined. PAINT SURFACE The painting appears to be in good, clean condition. There is a small semi-circular mark in the paint suface just above the sitter's head, which could easily be re-touched. ULTRAVIOLET Ultraviolet light reveals scattered, light re-touching mainly to the background. There are some specks of re-touching to the face. FRAME Held in a gilt wood frame.
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The sitter was born in Penzance in 1815 the son of an Ulster clergyman. Coningham was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge and joined the Royal Dragoons in 1834. He married a clergyman's daughter in 1840, and soon afterwards decided to embark upon a political career, with a particular interest in social reform. In 1847 he unsuccessfully stood for the parliamentary constituency of Brighton, finally being elected ten years later. In 1851 he met George Eliot who was impressed by his politics and wrote of him 'a gentleman... rather aristocratic... a fine, handsome, tall fellow with an honest expression' (Frances Haskell, 'William Coningham and his Collection of Old Masters', in Burlington Magazine, October 1991, p. 676). His political career came to an end in 1864 when he resigned as M.P. for Brighton on the grounds of ill-health. He died in 1884, and his collection of Old Masters were given to the National Gallery.