HOPPNER, John
(b. 1758, London, d. 1810, London)

Portrait of William Pitt the Younger

-
Oil on canvas,115 x 145 cm
Private collection

The painting Hoppner portrays the Right Honourable William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), three-quarter-length, in a black coat, standing before a column and gold brocade drape. Pitt the Younger was one of Britain's preeminent politicians of the late eighteenth and early ninetieth centuries. He served as Prime Minister from 1783 to 1801 and then again from 1804 to 1806. His father, William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham, had also been Prime Minister.

The present portrait is one of the 20 versions completed by Hoppner of Pitt the Younger.