Possible Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks

In this portrait, the affluent sitter is depicted as an explorer, seated beside a globe, with Europe and Asia prominently displayed. The sitter embodies the essence of the Georgian Era’s spirit of discovery and scientific advancement, symbolising England’s burgeoning global influence. The Georgian period marked the British loss of the 13 American Colonies while simultaneously witnessing the expansion of the British Empire in Asia, primarily driven by the British East India Company. The period also saw a rise in prominent explorers and geographers, like that of our sitter, who leveraged the resources of the Royal Navy to make significant contributions to the Empire's developments and the scientific discoveries in Australia and the Pacific.

Thomas Agnew and Sons Fine Art Publishers identified the sitter as Sir Joseph Banks as written on verso.

Joseph Banks

Joseph Banks was born on 13 February 1743 in Lincolnshire to a wealthy landowner. His passion for the natural sciences developed from a young age, and in turn lead to his education at Eton College and the University of Oxford where his studies focused on natural history. As one of England’s wealthiest men of the time, at just 23, he took his first voyage.  

Banks became the botanist of HMS Niger in 1766, a journey to the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. His documentation of new species of plants and animals, especially birds, was extensive. 

Arguably one of the most well-known scientific journeys is HMS Endeavour, the expedition to the South Pacific led by Captain James Cook and the Royal Society, of which Banks was a member. Banks assisted in charting the land and documenting plants, animals, and other resources that would be of use to the British Empire. His interests lied in plants that could be used for practical purposes, and that might be introduced to other countries for commercial use. The expedition visited South America, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and Java. 

In 1769, Banks led Britain’s first scientific expedition to Iceland, where he documented volcanoes alongside three artists, returning with hundreds of illustrations and specimens. He also chartered the Sir Lawrence and a group of 12 to explore volcanology in Iceland, as the interest was growing amongst Londoners. 

His undeniable popularity resulted in the increase of his reputation in London, with his home becoming one of the scientific and social centres of Georgian London. With the collections and samples, he amassed during his travels, he soon became a trustee of the British Museum and King George III’s advisor for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. In 1778, he was appointed President of the Royal Society. He also served as a founding member of the Linnaean Society, the Royal Institution and the Royal Horticultural Society. 

The legacy that Banks left on the sciences included approximately 110 new genera and 1,300 new species that were named from the specimens Banks collected throughout his lifetime. 75 different species hold his name, as do a group of Islands in the South Pacific, and a peninsula in New Zealand. The scientific knowledge he brought back to Britain sparked considerable interest across Europe. 

He died on 19 June 1820. 

Francis Hayman

Born in 1708 to a respectable Devonshire family, his training began at the tender age of ten under the tutelage of the historical painter Robert Brown, who was probably an uncle. By the 1730’s he is known to have been engaged in painting scenery for the popular theatres on Goodman’s Fields and Drury Lane. He established a studio on St Martin’s Lane, and demonstrated his versatility as one of the most important painters of his time in portraits, illustration and history painting. Indeed, he was one of the first English painters deemed to have the skill and proficiency to rival that of the foreign masters, such as Holbein and Kneller, who were brought in by the court to make up for the perceived shortcomings of the native artists.

Led by William Hogarth, Hayman and other artists began to create a new movement in the English art world. Thomas Gainsborough was one of his pupils, whom he is said to have introduced to the more lascivious and debauched underbelly of London life.

After mostly making his living as an illustrator, in the 1740’s Hayman was commissioned by the proprietor of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, Jonathan Tyers, to produce a series of four large celebratory canvases depicting British victories from the Seven Years War. His association with Tyers continued, and over the next ten years he produced a number of large decorative paintings for the ornate supper boxes that were a very popular feature of the gardens.

Success as a portrait and conversation piece artist arose from his relaxed style, which cast aside the usual formal settings and poses to embrace the genteel environments of the urban middle classes in society, depicting their privileged life. These were often painted in the rococo style, which had become very popular in England in the early eighteenth century.

In 1768 Hayman is listed as a founding member of the Royal Academy, and rather ironically, given his rather wayward character, held the office of Academy Librarian from 1771 until his death in 1776.

He is believed to have been married twice, although there is no surviving record of his first marriage. Hayman died of gout in his house on Dean Street in Soho in February 1776. He is buried in an unmarked grave in nearby St Anne’s churchyard.

Literature
Allen, Brian, Francis Hayman, Yale University Press, (1987).

Museums
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
National Portrait Gallery, London
The Art Institue of Chicago
Royal Academy of Arts, London