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Creator:
Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1769–1830
Title:
Admiral John Markham
Former Title(s):
Admiral Sir John Markham
Date:
ca. 1793
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
30 x 25 inches (76.2 x 63.5 cm), Frame: 39 1/2 × 35 inches (100.3 × 88.9 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.413
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1981.25.413FR
Subject Terms:
admiral | portrait
Associated People:
Markham, John (1761–1827), naval officer
Access:
Not on view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:898
Export:
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IIIF Manifest:
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The second son of William Markham, Archbishop of York, John Markham (1761–1827) entered the Royal Navy at the age of thirteen, served in North America and the West Indies, and rose to the rank of post-captain in 1783. Around the time this portrait was painted, Markham was in command of HMS Blonde, serving in 1793 under Admiral Sir John Jervis (later Lord St. Vincent) at the so-called reduction of Martinique during the French Revolutionary Wars. Thomas Lawrence also painted a portrait of John’s younger brother David, an army officer who was killed in combat in Haiti in 1795, at the same time as the present picture. Both portraits hung in their father’s London home until his death in 1807, when they were placed in the dining room at Becca Hall, Yorkshire, the seat of their eldest brother.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016


The son of William Markham, Archbishop of York, John Markham (1761-1827) entered the Royal Navy at the age of thirteen, served in North America and the West Indies, and rose to the rank of post-captain in 1783. Around the time this portrait was painted by Lawrence, Markham was in command of H.M.S. Blonde, serving in 1793 under Admiral Sir John Jervis (later Lord St. Vincent) at the so-called "reduction" of Martinique. He later joined St. Vincent on the Admiralty Board, and for nearly twenty-five years sat as the member of Parliament for the naval city of Portsmouth. He died in Naples, where he had traveled in search of a more salubrious climate.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2005

The Critique of Reason : Romantic Art, 1760–1860 (Yale University Art Gallery, 2015-03-06 - 2015-07-26) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Sir Walter Armstrong, Lawrence, Methuen & co., ltd., London, 1913, p. 150, NJ18 L42 A75 (YCBA) Also Available Online (ORBIS) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 142-43, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Exhibition of works by the old masters and by deceased masters of the British school Winter Exhibiiton 8th year, , Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1877, p. 44, no. 248, N5054 A545 1877 (YCBA) Also available on Microfiche, Fiche B 113 [YCBA]

Dr. Kenneth Garlick, A Catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings and Pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence, Volume of the Walpole Society, v. 39, Walpole Society, 1962-1964, p. 139..., N12 W35 A1 39 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Dr. Kenneth Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, a complete catalogue of the oil paintings , Phaidon, Oxford, 1989, pp. 234-35, no. 544, fig. 544, NJ18 L42 G376 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Catherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p. 40, ND466 .G67 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Ronald Sutherland Gower, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Goupil, J. Boussod, Manzi, Joyant, successors, London New York, 1900, p. 148, NJ18 L42 G7 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Michael Levey, Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1769-1830, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1979, NJ18 L42 L48 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Clements R. Markham, Markham memorials, Spottiswoode & Co., London, 1913, pp..ii,73,86,105, Bb39m O19 (LSF) [ORBIS]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 3, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]


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