How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
Colonel John Pitt (1698–1744) was a soldier, politician and administrator, who acted as aide-de-camp (ADC) to George I, and from 1728 to 1737 as Governor of Bermuda. He was also a Freemason and in this portrait he is wearing the distinctive red apron and collar of a grand steward. In the eighteenth century grand stewards were appointed to organise a feast for the Grand Lodge of England, one of two governing bodies of Freemasonry at this time, which they were required to pay for themselves. They still operate today, assisting with the meeting and dining arrangements of the United Grand Lodge of England, the governing body of Freemasonry in England and Wales. Suspended from Pitt’s collar is a badge, or jewel, composed of three Masonic symbols: a set square, level and plumb rule.
Museum of Freemasonry
London
Title
Colonel John Pitt (1698–1744), ADC
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 91.5 x W 61 cm
Accession number
M2010.1195
Acquisition method
purchased by the United Grand Lodge of England, 1938
Work type
Painting
Inscription description
COLONEL JOHN PITT, A.D.C. First W.M. Britannic Lodge, No. 75, 1730; Grand Steward 1735; Governor of Bermuda. Died February, 1744'