Portrait of Spencer Compton

Portrait of Spencer Compton is a c. 1710 portrait painting of the English politician Spencer Compton by the German-born British artist Godfrey Kneller.

Portrait of Spencer Compton
Artist	Godfrey Kneller
Year	c. 1710
Medium	Oil on canvas
Subject	Spencer Compton
Dimensions	91.4 cm (36.0 in) × 71.1 cm (28.0 in)
Location	National Portrait Gallery, London
Owner	Art Fund
Accession No.	NPG 3234
Identifiers	Art UK artwork ID: spencer-compton-earl-of-wilmington-157032

Compton was a Whig supporter of Robert Walpole, widely accredited as the first formal British prime minister. From 1715 to 1727 he was Speaker of the House of Commons. In 1730 he was appointed Lord President of the Council and elevated to be Earl of Wilmington. He succeeded Walpole as prime minister in 1742, but his administration lasted less than seventeen months before his death in 1743; he was replaced by his colleague and fellow Whig Henry Pelham.

The work was one of the series of kit-cat portraits by Kneller depicting members of the Kit-Cat Club, a dining society which included many leading Whigs. Today it is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London. It was acquired by the gallery in 1945 with the support of the Art Fund.

References

Bibliography

• Black, Jeremy (2001). Walpole in Power. Sutton. ISBN 978-0-7509-2523-5.
• Piper, David, ed. (1963). Catalogue of Seventeenth-Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625–1714. Cambridge University Press.

Further reading

• Field, Ophelia (2008). The Kit-Cat Club: Friends Who Imagined a Nation. London: Harper Press. ISBN 978-0-00-717892-6.

External links

• Media related to Earl of Wilmington (Kneller) at Wikimedia Commons