How you can use this image
This image is available to be shared and re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (CC BY-NC-SA).
This image can be reproduced in any way but your use of it cannot be for any kind of commercial purpose. Any work you create using this image must also be
Wherever you reproduce the image or an altered version of it, you must attribute the original creators (acknowledge the original artist(s), the person/organisation that took the photograph of the work) and any other stated rights holders.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find more images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
DownloadNotes
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.
Edward Harley, son of Robert, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, married well to the only daughter and heir of the 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne, who brought a fortune of half a million pounds. An extravagant man, he collected on a grand scale so that at his death he was estimated to own 7,639 manuscript volumes, 14,236 original rolls, charters, deeds and other legal documents, 330,000 printed pamphlets, 41,000 prints, over 17,000 books, plus antiquities, coins, medals and pictures. He bequeathed the library to his widow Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (1694–1755), during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715–1785), Duchess of Portland. The manuscripts were sold to the nation by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum, the books having previously been auctioned.
Title
Edward Harley (1689–1741), 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer
Date
1728 or after
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 150 x W 122 cm
Accession number
Painting.16
Acquisition method
gift from the Dowager Duchess of Portland, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, née Harley, 1768; on loan to the British Library, since 1990
Work type
Painting
British Museum
Great Russell Street, London, Greater London WC1B 3DG England
-
Charles Cornwallis (1675–1722), 4th Lord Cornwallis English Heritage, Audley End House -
Portrait of a Lady Hereford Museum and Art Gallery -
William Bromley (c.1663–1732), DCL Examination Schools, University of Oxford -
John Radcliffe (1650–1714) Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford -
A Young Man, Possibly 4th Lord Cornwallis (1675–1722) English Heritage, Audley End House -
Triple Portrait of the 2nd Earl of Burlington (1674–1704), the 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull (c.1665–1726), and the 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton (1663–1697) Chiswick House -
Sir Thomas Cookes (1648–1701), 2nd Bt Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford - 302 more