English School, c. 1720

Portrait of Simon, Viscount Harcourt, Lord Chancellor of England (1661-1727), half-length, in Chancellor's robes and a long grey wig

Details

English School, c. 1720
Portrait of Simon, Viscount Harcourt, Lord Chancellor of England (1661-1727), half-length, in Chancellor's robes and a long grey wig
inscribed 'Lord Chancellor Harcourt' (upper left)
oil on canvas
30 x 25 in. 76.2 x 63.5 cm.

Provenance

with Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 18 November 1966, lot 163, as 'Hudson'.

Lot Essay

The sitter was the only son of Sir Philip Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, by his first wife, Anne, daughter of Sir William Waller. During a successful legal and political career, he was appointed Lord Chancellor in 1713. He had the reputation of being a brilliant orator, Speaker Onslow going so far as to say that 'Harcourt had the greatest skill and power of speech of any man I ever knew in a public assembly.'

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