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A clergyman, essayist and social reformer, Smith founded the Whig Edinburgh Review with Francis Jeffrey and Henry Brougham in 1802. For the next twenty-five years he used this periodical as an organ for his liberal views on educational reform, the slave trade and the Irish situation. Smith was perhaps the most celebrated wit of his age and an exuberant member of the Holland House set. His humorous Letters to Peter Plymley (1807–1808) supported Catholic emancipation. Although later appointed Canon of St Paul's Cathedral, his hopes for a bishopric were frustrated by his public reputation as an enlightened Whig.Commissioned by Smith's old friend Hudson Gurney, the antiquary; a version of Brigg's portrait of 1833.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Sydney Smith

Date

1840

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 127.6 x W 102.2 cm

Accession number

1475

Acquisition method

Given by Henry Thurstan Holland, 1st Viscount Knutsford, 1907

Work type

Painting

National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.

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Artist or maker

Henry Perronet Briggs

1791/1793–1844

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